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#back down my pirates spiral that started with....
noearchives · 1 month
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one piece boys + first kiss headcanons
pairings: portgas d. ace x gn!reader, trafalgar d. water law x gn!reader, sanji x gn! reader, roronoa zoro x gn! reader
a.n.: a sweet little something. :)
cw: none, a trace amount of suggestive content in sanji's and ace's part if you squint really hard...
portgas d. ace
- happens when both of you are a bit tipsy after a drink or two during a party on the moby dick.
- has kissed a few people here and there (nothing too serious), so he has a bit of experience.
- is good with his tongue, this boy.
- very impatient too.
- that's why after one or two close-mouthed kisses, he’s already slipped his tongue inside your mouth.
- like oh okay! didn't know we were going this fast!
- despite the quick pace, it’s not difficult to pick up. you kiss him like you’ve done it thousands of times before already, and you don't really need to think about what you're doing when you kiss because it just comes to you Naturally.
- it feels like it’s burning, to the point where you suspect ace has unintentionally activated his devil fruit to melt your tongues together.
- is so into it to the point where he didn't even notice when his hat fell off.
- you'd have to pat him on the back twice to make him let go of you because he will Not notice how you're already out of breath.
- leaves you dizzy and breathless. in a way that makes you want more.
- "let's take this to my room, yeah?"
trafalgar d. water law
- you waited for ages for the right timing for him to kiss you first, but it never seemed to come.
- see, the captain of the heart pirates never had the time nor mood for things like this.
- so when you asked if you could kiss him, he panicked a little. just a little.
- he tries to play it cool, but when you’re 1cm away from his lips, it’s like you're holding a gun to his head, frozen in place with his eyes squeezed shut.
- for the first two seconds of the kiss, he’s a little grossed out by the flesh-to-flesh feeling and the thought of the bacteria that’s being exchanged between the both of you is making his head spin a little.
- but as your lips part and connect with his again, he slowly melts into the kiss, copying your movements as you continue.
- it’s not a super passionate kiss or anything, but it leaves his whole body buzzing with his heartbeat thrumming in his ears.
- this feeling is so foreign to him- but somehow, he wants more of it, and he wants to know everything about it.
- "can we do that again?”
sanji
- it happened during one of those moments where it’s late at night and all his emotions bubble up to the back of his throat.
- you were the one who initiated the kiss because he kept rambling, going on and on about how much he loves you and how he doesn't deserve you, how a filthy man like him shouldn't be with a beauty like you, eventually spiralling into self-hate.
- it gets to the point where you had to shut him up with a kiss, to prove that yes, you actually want him, and no, he is not a filthy, unlovable man.
- god, your lips are so soft. he might just start crying.
- he doesn't, of course, so he won’t ruin the moment.
- the kiss is soft and tender, but he soon becomes desperate for more and it escalates into something further, the sentimental moment taking a one hundred-and-eighty degree turn.
- it’s strange, because he was just sulking over himself, and now his hands are all over you, fingers hiking up your shirt as the kiss grows deeper.
- the moment your lips are parted, you give him a light-hearted scold.
- “apologies, my love. you're just a little too irresistible.”
roronoa zoro
- catches you absolutely off guard. surprisingly, he’s the one who kisses you first rather than the other way around.
- it happened so casually- you were hanging out with the strawhats, a drink in your hands as zoro bent down to kiss you as he was passing by.
- he didn't say a word. just a swift kiss that lingers on your lips, leaving your ears and cheeks burning.
- it was bold of him to kiss you out of nowhere- in front of everyone too, telling everyone that you're his, and his only.
- (probably to also piss sanji off while doing so.)
- when you ask the swordsman about it a while later when the two of you are alone, he just answers with a longer, deeper kiss.
- “no more questions,” he mumbles against your lips. “do you want the kiss or not?”
- of course, you reply with your lips on his. actions speak louder than words, afterall.
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halfvalid · 6 months
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Hey! Since your requests are open, may I request opla!Zoro x reader (established relationship) where the reader has a lot of self doubt (not only in their looks, but their abilities and their place in the crew) since it’s, unfortunately, been shoved done their throat by pretty much eveyone they knew, even their parents, that they would never be good enough? Maybe Zoro figures out that they have sort of been spiralling lately and they have a talk about the readers past and the problems they’re facing and he comforts them? Maybe it ends sort of spicy or turns out full on spicy, if you’re comfortable with that!
daybreak
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ABOUT
alternate title: some fluffy established relationship hurt/comfort to save my soul
rating: teen & up
characters: live action!roronoa zoro | fem!reader
pairing: live action!roronoa zoro x fem!reader
word count: 2.9k (short; sorry!)
description: zoro notices you've been seeming off recently, and you confide in him your insecure feelings of self-worth. he comforts you.
tags: strawhat!reader, established relationship, fluff, emotional hurt/comfort, kissing, no use of ‘y/n’, soft zoro, ridiculously stupidly absolutely horrifyingly fluffy. 
author’s note: thank you so much for the very lovely request! i hope i did your prompt justice; i ended up not writing any spice at the end (just slightly suggestive) since i didn't think it fit the story but i hope you like it anyway ^^
it feels slightly ooc, but i also wrote it in the span of two hours at 1:00 am so can you really blame me. 
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It was morning on the Going Merry, and you were cleaning up the wreckage that had been scattered along the deck in your last battle. The crew had gone up against some other pirates; it’d been late at night, and the attack had come suddenly, what you’d thought would be a peaceful docking turning combative quickly. 
You barely remembered the fight. One moment, the warning bell had sounded, and the next Zoro was rolling out of bed beside you, grabbing his swords and darting out of your bedroom before you could even register what was happening. The fight had gone in the Straw Hats’ favor, thankfully; Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji had fended off most of the threat, and you were back on the open sea, safe from enemies for at least a little while now. 
You let out a sigh as you swept shattered glass into a dustpan, shaking out the collected trash into a nearby empty barrel. None of the men usually bothered to start cleaning up—typical—so you’d pulled yourself out of bed as early as possible to get the ship looking a little more like normal. 
Zoro had left some corpses on the deck for you to deal with, and you’d had to toss them overboard, a grimace tugging at your lips as blood stained the white of your blouse. No matter. You’d finished sweeping, at least; all you had left to do was mop, right as everyone else was waking up. 
You filled a bucket with warm water and soap, and were just grabbing the mop from the closet when you heard footsteps. You glanced up, surprised to see Zoro heading towards you, one hand grasped loosely around his sword handle as always. “You’re up early,” he said, casual as ever. “Woke up and you were gone.” 
“Figured I should get a head start on cleaning,” you answered quickly, not meeting Zoro’s eyes as you dunked the mop into the bucket. His brows creased as he watched you start mopping, pushing the handle along the deck to wipe it clear of bloodstains. 
“How long have you been doing this?” Zoro asked, after a few seconds of delayed silence. You shrugged, dunking your mop again before going for another few swipes. “We can help clean too, you know.” 
“It’s the least I can do,” you protested. You moved past him, trying very hard not to meet his eyes—but Zoro didn’t let you pass, one hand going out to grab the mop rod and stopping you in your tracks. “What?” 
“What do you mean, least you could do?” Zoro asked blankly. 
“I mean—” you shrugged, muscles limp like your entire body was sagging you down. “You and the others were the ones to deal with the pirates, so I figured I could at least—”
Zoro still looked confused, brows pulled together, forehead taut with a frown. “I distinctly recall you throwing a pirate twice your size overboard. Unless I was imagining things.” 
You sighed. “Not what I meant.” You tried to push past Zoro again, but he didn’t let you, hand still tightly grasped around your mop handle. 
“Okay, what did you mean, then?” 
“Nothing. Will you just let me finish cleaning so there aren't blood stains all over Luffy’s ship?” You sighed again, even as you attempted to keep the sound inside—but you couldn’t help it. It was like there was an anchor stuck inside of you, pulling everything from your feelings to your body down, the weight of gravity tugging at your features. 
“Luffy’s ship?” 
You shrugged. “The Straw Hats’ ship. Whatever.” 
“Our ship,” Zoro said. There was a certain twinge of something in his words; still blankness, but laced with a dawning realization that you weren’t sure you liked. “You’re upset.” 
“Nope.” This time you really did manage to get free of Zoro’s grasp, yanking your mop out of his grip and starting back on cleaning the deck. The acrid smell of iron hit your nose as you scrubbed the dried blood off—you’d have to go back in later with a sponge to get all the cracks and crevices, but for now this would be okay. 
Zoro followed you, unceasing with his interrogation. “Yes, you are. I know when you’re upset, and you’re upset. What happened.” It was more of a statement than a question—Zoro didn’t often doubt himself, really, which was one of the many things that’d helped make you stumble into falling for him. “Was it about last night? You know the cook's just making fun when he keeps a counter, right? It doesn’t matter if he brought two or five more men down than you.” 
“It’s not about that,” you insisted. 
“So you admit you are upset.” 
You groaned, finally turning to look Zoro in the eye. He’d stopped walking, the dawning sun glinting hazey gold onto his skin in the early hour. There was still an overcast of blue from the night in the sky, and it made the heavens look ethereal, watery and glittering. 
“Come on,” he urged. “Just tell me what’s wrong.” 
“It’s really nothing you need to be concerned about,” you attempted, but your voice was weak now. Zoro stepped closer to you, gently pulling the mop out of your hands. Your fingers let go easily. “It’s silly.” 
Zoro gave you a look. “Out with it.” 
“I don’t know, I just—” your fingers clenched, like your hand was trying to find something to do now that Zoro had rid you of your mop. “Comparatively I just don’t do much. So I want to help out as much as possible.” 
“Who said you don’t do much?” 
“What?” 
“I don’t think I need to repeat myself,” Zoro said. He let the mop fall to the ground, arms crossing over his chest as he watched you. “Who said you don’t do much?”
“I mean, nobody. It’s just true.” You shrugged, distinctly uncomfortable with the way Zoro was looking at you—all attentive, like he was trying to strip you raw with his eyes, uncover whatever secrets might be hiding in the pores of your skin and the gaps of your teeth. “Luffy’s the captain, we wouldn’t be able to do anything without Nami, you and Sanji are the fighters, and Usopp’s everyone’s favorite. I’m just kind of… filler?” 
The more you spoke, the worse your words got, your tone turning more desperate as the sentences fumbled out of your mouth. Zoro’s eyebrows raised higher as you went on, and you flushed, red prickling all over your skin. 
“First of all,” he started, “Usopp is not my favorite. That’d be you. And—where are you getting this from?” 
You shook your head, trying to backtrack. “Nothing. Nowhere. It’s not that import—”
“Yes, it is, and we’re talking about it.” Zoro pulled a nearby barrel by the side of the ship, plopping himself down atop it and gesturing for you to sit. You didn’t, but you did move over to the railing, hands curling around the painted wood. “Speak.” 
“I have nothing to say,” you tried. Zoro just shot you an unimpressed look, and you squirmed. “Fine. I don’t know. I joined last, so I just figured… you were all kind of already set without me, right?” 
Zoro shook his head. “We’re a crew,” he said, voice strong but somehow still gentle. “You’re part of us for a reason. What, this entire time did you think you were—expendable?” 
You fidgeted uncomfortably, weight shifting from one leg to the other. “No.” 
“Don’t lie.” 
“Yes. No. I don’t know. Last night—I only got, like what, two guys? And you reacted way faster to the situation than I did,” you started, words flailing around on your tongue as they rushed out. It was indelicate, for certain, and you yourself couldn’t make sense of most of the words—but once you started, you couldn’t stop, even as they slurred together. “I was still getting out of bed and grabbing my weapon when you’d already dealt with half the enemy crew.” 
“Don’t compare yourself to me,” Zoro said with a shake of his head. “That’s not fair. I’ve been training since I was eight. It’s different.” 
You huffed out an exasperated breath, trying not to let your frustration get the best of you. “I can't help it sometimes. It’s a bad habit.” You loosened your grip on the ship railing, staring out at the golden clouds hovering over the sky.  “Sorry.” 
“Don’t apologize,” Zoro answered. He didn’t say anything after that—giving you a space to talk, you supposed, in case you wanted to. But his hand did reach up to press against yours, pinky brushing against your finger as he held onto the railing beside you. 
“I guess I just always had these standards back at the village,” you managed out eventually. Your island had always been one of the more traditional places in the East Blue, and there were plenty rules and guidelines abound. One of the many reasons you’d left the place in favor for Luffy and the Going Merry, really. “So I just… always want to do more. It’s not that bad.” 
“Right.” Zoro’s pinky looped around your finger, now, holding it close in a soft kiss of the hands. You sighed. 
“My parents were kind of rough on me, I guess,” you tried, sneaking a glance over at Zoro’s face to see if it satiated his curiosity at all. His expression remained as steel as ever, so you just continued. “They wanted me to be the best I could. But their standards were too high, even when I was little.” You found yourself rubbing circles into the back of Zoro’s hand with your finger, more so to comfort yourself than for any other reason. “Just normal stuff, like being upset about my school grades or my combat training levels being too low. Nothing that terrible.” 
“But…?” Zoro asked, tilting his head up to look at you. You smiled, but the action didn’t reach your eyes—it was all mouth and jaw, cheeks lifting but eyes glinting with the same glazed stare. 
“It just affected me a lot, I suppose,” you answered. “Always trying to get better. Never satisfied. And I guess now—I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough.” 
“For?” Zoro asked. His voice was low, soft, all hollow and empty inside. There was a tinge of roughness lacing it, like he’d forgotten to clear his throat, and the scratch of his vocal chords had surfaced up along with the words. 
“Myself. My parents. Luffy. You.” Your lips tightened into a line. Vaguely, you could feel the warm pinpricks of tears starting at your waterline, and you tried to will them back, letting out a little laugh. “Everyone, I guess.” 
Zoro’s hand had come to hold yours fully, fingers woven in between yours, thumb pressed firmly against the joint of your thumb. Somehow, that one motion managed to force the last of the words out of you—all wet and soft, eyes glued fiercely to the horizon in fear of seeing what was etched on Zoro’s face. 
“We do arranged marriages back at home,” you started, trying very hard to keep your voice from trembling. it worked only marginally—there was a tiny quaver in your tone, but it was soft, not noticeable unless you were really listening hard. “And my mom used to tell me I’d die alone. Because I wasn’t pretty enough, or smart enough, or anything enough for any of the boys there.” 
“Oh,” Zoro said. It was quiet; barely a whisper. You tried for a wry smile. 
“I like helping, though. I don’t mind cleaning up or whatever. It makes me feel more useful.” You tried to tug your hand out of Zoro’s grip, but his fingers tightened, keeping you in place. A nervous laugh escaped your throat. “And I know I’m part of the crew and all of this is just silly. So it’s really fine—”
Zoro tugged your intertwined hands to his chest, causing you to stumble and glance down at him in surprise. His expression was nearly unreadable. It’d darkened, and there was a contemplative gaze in his eyes, lips parted with invisible words perched on his tongue. “Don’t do that,” he whispered, and your stomach dropped, the nervousness that had gathered inside during the conversation tightening up into a hall. “Don’t say it’s okay or that it’s not important. If it’s making you upset, then it matters.” 
“I guess,” you tried, and Zoro’s gaze lifted to fix you with a glare. “Sorry.” 
“It’s okay, I just…” Zoro shook his head. “Look, whatever your parents used to tell you, whatever you have ingrained in your head—it’s not true. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to do more, but… you don’t have to do it. You’re enough already.” 
Your gaze softened, lips falling open to say something, but Zoro wasn’t finished yet. “You shouldn’t come out here and force yourself to clean up just to make up for your—waste of space, or something. You’re not a servant. And you’re not wasting up any space. I think everyone would agree that you’re a very important and vital part of the crew.” 
“Thanks,” you whispered. Zoro’s hand was warm around yours, and you felt the threatening droplets of tears start to rise up at your waterline, ready to fall at any moment now. Zoro just nodded. 
“You’re a great fighter, and way smarter than what you give yourself credit for,” he said firmly. He raised your hand to his mouth, then, leaning over to press a feather-light kiss to your knuckles. “And the boys on your island have to be blind, because you’re pretty enough. You’re more than pretty enough.”
He whispered the last words, all soft and sacred on his tongue. “You’re beautiful.” 
That was enough to drive your tears over the edge. You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to stop the flow as the warm sensation of liquid streaking down your cheeks began. Droplets caught in the crevice of your lips, and at the hinge of your jaw—Zoro brought a hand up to wipe them away. “Are you okay?” he whispered. 
“Yeah, I just, um.” You shook your head, sniffing. “Thank you. That… helped. I think.” 
Zoro bummed out his response. “Of course,” he said easily. “You’re my girl. It’s my job to cheer you up.” He kissed your knuckles again. “And you can talk to any of us. I’m not really the best at this, but everyone else…” he shrugged. 
“You’re doing just fine,” you assured him. Zoro nodded, tugging you down until you finally took a seat on a crate beside him. “I think it’s just been worse lately.” 
“If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re better than the waiter,” Zoro said. You just laughed. 
“I think you’re biased, but thank you,” you said. “Here, I, um, I promise I’ll let you know if I’m feeling down, I guess. If you don’t mind.” 
“Definitely don’t mind,” Zoro answered. This time he placed a gentle kiss on your neck, somewhere at the bottom near the back. “Leave the mopping for someone else. You’ve already done a lot.” 
“Okay,” you whispered, eyes fluttering closed as Zoro kissed the rest of the way up the back of your neck. He placed a final one right below your earlobe. With that, Zoro stood up, sweeping one arm under your legs and hoisting you up. You cracked open an eye to regard him with a blank look. “What are you doing?” 
“Bringing you back to my room,” Zoro answered. “You didn’t get much sleep tonight. And I doubt anyone wants to watch me kissing you on the main deck anyway.” 
That was fair enough reasoning, so you didn’t complain, letting him carry you all the way to his cabin and gently lay you down onto his bed. He leaned over to press a gentle kiss to your lips—you could still taste the saltwater from your tears from before. “Want me to stay?” Zoro asked. 
“You don’t have to,” you said automatically, and Zoro raised both his eyebrows. You let out a sigh. “Okay, I get it. Yes. Please stay.” 
“All you had to say,” Zoro said, shedding himself of his shoes and swords before leaning over the bed to watch you. He didn’t slip under the covers or anything, just propped an arm up on the mattress, kneeling beside the bed. There was tender silence for a few moments before Zoro spoke again. 
“I love you,” he said abruptly, voice rough but somehow still soft. Your heart beat too fast in your chest, ribcage squeezing in on the organ and making it skip. His hand slid along the mattress to find yours, and you took the offer, fingers clasping around his palm. 
“I love you too,” you whispered back. Zoe leaned over, then, the hand not intertwined with yours tilting your jaw over just so to allow him better access to your mouth. He kissed you full-on, tender but firm, mouth working against yours in a way that unraveled you entirely. Your grip on his hand tightened as he deepened the kiss, a soft sound emitting from low in your throat. Finally you broke apart, heaving for breath, exhales mixing together midair. An exchange of souls, you’d heard once, somewhere. 
“Come on,” you murmured, tugging Zoro closer to the bed so he got the hint. He slipped beside you onto it, turning your head again to meet you in another kiss. His hand drifted down to your waist, holding you securely in place.  
“I don’t think anyone should need us for a few more hours, right?” Zoro asked, and you laughed. He swallowed up the sounds with his mouth, tongue licking languidly into you as he rubbed delicate circles into the skin of your waist. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, and then he was kissing you again. 
You let him siphon the soul out of your lungs, knowing you were getting his right back. 
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© halfvalid 2023
1K notes · View notes
More Than We Thought.
Shanks x Reader
Explicit | NSFW | 18+ only
Warnings: Heavy (but ‘delicate’?) smut under the cut - trust me. There’s no build up, we just dive right in.
A/n: It’s purely self-indulgent. I’m hiding under my covers so you can’t see me - is it working?
Inspired by Dirtier Thoughts by Nation Haven.
I’ve written clean fanfic over 6 years so I’m terrified to post something so explicit. But we’re allowed to branch out right?
For less steamy fics, try the main blog.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Shanks pressed his hand just under your belly button, his fingers lightly tracing the outline of where his hard length had entered the most intimate part of your body. He could feel himself squeezed inside. He moved forward slightly and saw the bulge underneath his palm follow the movement.
He glanced up at you and saw your head laying on the mattress, chin tilted up and lips between your teeth. He pushed in deeper and the bump grew slowly. You hummed at the sensation. Heels adjusting on the edge of the bed as you spread your legs as much as you could to let him in.
Taking the positive signs, Shanks kept going further - keeping an eye on the way your hand gripped the sheets. But his main focus was seeing how high the bulge under your skin could go before there was no more space. He wanted it to reach your belly button but even the human body had its restraints.
Bit by bit, he pushed until you let out a soft gasp when he had hit capacity. Shanks looked down at where you were connected, a small frown settled on his face - there was still a bit more of him left.
“Shanks.” You whispered. “What’s wrong?”
The Red-Haired pirate smiled. “I’ve filled you but I...” he leaned forward to kiss your neck. “I’m bigger than we both thought.”
There was a pause before you gave a breathy response. “Push it in.”
Shanks peppered another slow kiss beside the first letting his tongue linger just a little. “Are you sure?”
Looking down, you finally met his eyes since it all started. “Push it in and then repeat it.”
Shanks laughed softly and caught your mouth with his. Nipping the bottom lip when he pulled back. “You’re not going to be able to walk tomorrow if I start.”
Lifting your head up slightly, you copied his kiss and tugged at his lip lightly. “I dare you to have me not walk for a whole week.”
The grin on Shanks’ face distracted you for a split second until there was a sudden harsh pressure in your core as he forced the rest of himself inside you. The fit was undeniably tight and Shanks knew it. He hit the one sensitive spot that made you react in a way that made his heart race. Head thrown back, eyes closed, your mouth opened but was unable to voice a desperate scream. Only managing a short and sharp, “A-Ah!”
“Are you okay?” Shanks asked just to be sure.
You took a few seconds to catch your breath and adjust to his size. “Fine - a little warning would have been nice.” You told him honestly. When his smile dropped a little, you grabbed his chin and smiled. “But where’s the fun in that, right? Do your worst.”
“Looks like you’re not going to be able to talk for a week either.” Shanks returned with a smirk.
He pulled out carefully and when his hips moved a second time, he slammed himself into you - this time getting one hell of a scream from your lips. Then he did it again - pulled out to the tip before ramming back inside - and then again, determined to make your legs tremble until they wouldn’t hold you upright for the next week…or more.
Each thrust sent your voice screaming spirals into the air sometimes as a cry of pleasure other times just his name - and it only spurred him on. When Shanks started to speed up, your hands found his body. Nails clawing into his skin with a dull pain but it was nothing compared to what he was pounding into you.
If it became too much, you would shout the designated safe word but until he heard any part of that phrase, you were at his mercy. His hard length diving in and out of your body -
…until you couldn’t speak.
…until your legs quaked.
…until you had no more of your juices to release.
…until your insides were drowned in his hot spend.
And until your body was newly shaped to fit all that he was squeezing.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A/n: Still in shock I wrote that. Sweet dreams x
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undiscovered-horizon · 10 months
Text
"Man of Faith" - Nikolai Lantsov x Reader
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SUMMARY: With the Sun Summoner on board, Stumhond's attention seems to be captivated by the living Saint. While you know how important she is to him in terms of politics, you can't help but start to feel jealous. Nikolai, however, stays true to his only faith.
WORDCOUNT: ~ 1.4k
>>Grishaverse-inspired playlist<<
The night breeze feels cold when it brushes against your cheeks. Although you feel an uncomfortable shiver run down your spine, the chilly air is refreshing, revitalizing. Salty ocean water sprays your skin as the ship lazily cuts through the endless waters. Swooshing of the heavy waves hitting the vessel and the drawn-out creaking of boards interrupt the otherwise silent hours. The black, starry sky is reflecting in the equally black waters, making it hard to say where lies the horizon - firmament glistens both above your head and beneath your feet.
Leaning against the railing, you allow yourself a sigh of defeat. You shake your head at the bitter, lead-like weight in your abdomen. This phantom has refused to let you go ever since the Sun Summoner boarded the ship but it’s hardly her fault. Truly, it’s not His fault either, even if he’s part of your problem, following her around and eagerly asking every question that came to his mind. It’s like you’re not here at all, you think to yourself but quickly discard this awful idea with a shake of your head.
No matter how much you refuse to admit it, you’re jealous. In your mind, it’s very logical and rational to get neurotic - he’s an heir to the throne, she’s the Sun Summoner and you… are a pirate. Although your lovesick heart is defending Nikolai with all its might, your sensibility is feeding you a plethora of horrible scenarios that, to some degree, you’re aware are not very probable. Still, they’re not impossible.
You rub your face in a vain attempt to calm yourself down and gain control over your emotions. This is stupid. He’s just interested in an interesting person, nothing beyond that. All of the flustering, and frankly embarrassing, confessions of love he’s given you, can’t just be undone in two days… can they?
The sound of slow footsteps distracts you from your spiralling thoughts. You turn around only to see the man you’ve been agonizing over as though one of the Saints had heard you and, out of annoyance rather than goodwill, sent him your way to clear this perplexing misunderstanding. His blond locks float on the gusts of cold breeze. There’s an undeniable softness to his expression, even if his eyebrows raise slightly in worry. Despite the overwhelming darkness of the night on the open ocean, he looks nothing short of breathtaking. 
And you, through unimaginable luck, are the only thing that steals his breath.
"I was looking for you,” he says in a gentle voice. Jealousy mixes with guilt and shame inside you - Nikolai probably thinks something serious happened but no, it’s you getting into your own head.
"Something's the matter?" you deflect his inquiry. 
"Actually, I wanted to ask you that.” Nikolai leans on his elbow on the railing, his torso turned towards you. He’s standing close enough for his frock coat to brush against you - it’s smooth and velvety, as though water could be sawn into a garment. “You seemed upset earlier."
"Oh, it's nothing, really.” You dismiss him with a vague wave of your hand. “Don't worry."
Nikolai lets out a short sigh. He takes off his coat and puts it around your shoulders. "I always worry about you,” he says as he’s casually fixing the jacket to cover most of your body.
The familiar scent fills your nostrils immediately. Perhaps it’s the additional layer of clothing or his hand resting on your lower back that’s making you warm up significantly. In any event, his overwhelming presence, engulfing you in an embrace of comfort and security, momentarily shakes you sober from your grim thoughts. Like having a bucket of cold water thrown at your head, you’re wondering how you could ever question his devotion.
“A treasure?” Nikolai repeats after the old whaler. The stench of booze is surrounding the retired, one-eyed sailor like a hallucinogenic aura. “I’ve already found her, thank you.”
Doubt, however, is a relentless beast. Maybe you’ve been the recipient of his affection simply by a chance of convenience? You’ve always been there, waiting for Nikolai to pay you attention. But then you inhale again, the scent of resin and seaweed filling your nostrils, and the doubt vanishes once more as the fog does in the early morning hours.
"This is going to sound really stupid and selfish,” you confess.
"I want to hear it anyway."
Nikolai’s hand reaches for yours, fingers intertwining without either of you thinking about it. His thumb is gently rubbing circles into your skin. Some reflexes are scratched into bones, escaping human willingness. 
“It’s just…” You cut yourself off before you can finish. Embarrassed at what you’re about to tell him, you look away, admiring the faraway stars reflecting off the black water. In an unconscious motion, Nikolai cranes his neck to try and see more of your face. “Ever since Alina boarded the ship, you’ve been quite preoccupied with her and I… I think I’ve grown used to having your undivided attention. For the most part, at least. And that made me wonder whether I’m underwhelming compared to the Sun Summoner herself.”
Finally, you dare look back towards him. As you could have expected, he looks just as lovestruck as he usually does - not a wrinkle suggests that he’s angry with you for making a show of your jealousy or doubting his devotion. In fact, that upturned corner of his mouth makes him look genuinely amused with this course of events. Somewhere during your circular way of expressing envy, he only heard you admit how much you yearn for his attention.
"You thought I'm more interested in Alina Starkov than you?" he asks, laughter hiding inside his voice. "Hey, look at me.” Nikolai lifts his hand to your cheek, first brushing his finger against your skin before his whole palm cups your face. "I would have to lose my damn mind and even then I'd fall in love with you again if you just glanced in my direction."
“I know how important she is to you, Коля," you whisper, nervous that someone might pick up on the secret only you've been privy to so far. It nearly escapes your attention that his smile grows a little hearing you say his name. “It’s not your fault I’m being a little selfish. I just need to get a grip. You really shouldn’t worry.”
Nikolai’s hand drops from your face to hold your hand again. He brings your fingers to his lips, placing a soft kiss on them. It’s tender, like everything else he does towards you. Sometimes you wonder whether this gentleness is a conscious choice or if he’s physically incapable of directing any harshness at you.
"I could have an army of Sun Summoners and you’d still be the only Saint I’m praying to day and night.”
You scoff at his cheesy poetics. Laughing to yourself, you shake your head at him. "Oh, please, there is nothing holy about me."
With the hand he’s been resting on your lower back Nikolai pulls you even closer to him. He lets go of your fingers, placing his free hand on the side of your head, forcing you to look at him - not that you have anything against doing so.
"I beg to differ,” he begins in a low, surprisingly serious voice. “Ever since I saw you for the first time, I can't think about anything else. I don't want to. When you’re not with me I can’t focus until I find you and when I do, I feel like nothing can stand in my way. I could lose everything but if you’re by my side, I know I’m saved.” Nikolai rests his forehead against yours and closes his eyes. “You're the closest thing to godhood I've ever seen."
You inhale sharply suddenly feeling his warm lips against yours. His hands are pulling you closer to him, deepening the kiss. It’s both loving and desperate as though he’s expecting you to vanish into thin air at any moment; like he can’t quite believe he has the rest of his life to adore you.
To your disappointment, Nikolai pulls away from you after a long while but keeps a rather impressive lack of distance as your noses brush against each other. In a breathy voice, he whispers:
"You're the only prayer I need to make me feel blessed."
“Just kiss me again, милый мой.”
A quiet chuckle leaves his lips. “As you wish.”
Without wasting time, he’s kissing you again - hungrily, feverishly, reluctantly pulling away every now and then to catch his breath, only to resume this consuming pastime with insatiable desire.
_____
Коля [ko-lya] - short for Nikolai
Милый мой [me-lee moy] - my darling (masculine)
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libraryofgage · 5 months
Text
Mermaid/Pirate Steddie Four
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
Hi hi! It's been kind of a long week for me lmao but here's the next part! You'll def wanna stick around to the very end of the post; there's a very fun surprise for y'all lol
Also! If you like my writing or want to see a quicker update of this or another series, I've opened commissions (student loans are hitting a lot harder than I expected orz). If you're interested, you can find more information in this post
Even if you don't commission me, I appreciate your likes/comments/reblogs of my work! They keep me going and make me really happy ^_^
Anyway, now for the good stuff. As always, if you see any typos, no you didn't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
----
Sinking a ship takes skill, intense planning, and strong tails. Or, if you're Robin and seven guppies, it takes incredible, unbridled rage and a worry that could kill a Kraken. A ship that should take half the day to sink only takes the group two hours, their tails bashing against the hull and claws ripping planks to let seawater surge inside. Dustin is particularly brutal, recruiting Lucas and Mike to help him use the same net that caught him and took Steve to drag the ship beneath the waves.
Between tending to Dustin's wounds, lying to the pod about why they're going to be away for a while, and actually tracking the damned thing, it took Robin and the guppies a few days to catch up to the ship. And as they scavenge the drowned wreckage, pushing past broken doors and through holes in the hull, it becomes increasingly clear that they're too late.
"Where could he be?!" Dustin shouts, his gills flaring and bubbles rising in an enraged pattern above him. He takes a spear and jabs it into a water-bloated plank. "If he's not here, that means he escaped, right? So why hasn't he found us yet?"
"Steve could have been taken by another ship," El points out, her head poking from behind a mast. She's gained a dagger with a jewel-encrusted hilt and is currently using her nails to dig the jewels out and drop them into a seaweed bag.
Robin frowns, swimmingly anxiously in circles. She's not the one that's good with guppies. That's Steve. If she's the fun caretaker that encourages them to play Scuttlefish with sharks, Steve is the one a tail's-length behind dragging them back to the pod before they can get hurt. He's the one who knows how to keep the guppies calm and healthy. Robin is the one who keeps them energetic and chaotic.
"He was definitely here," Will says, swimming out from a cabin on the ship. He stops in front of Robin and holds his hands out, letting her see the dull, blood-stained scales sitting in his palms.
With a shaking hand, Robin takes the scales and turns them over, hoping they're somehow not Steve's. But he's her partner. Robin could recognize him by the flick of his tail alone. So, of course, she knows they're Steve's scales at a glance.
She turns, her tail creating a small current that brushes over the guppies and forces them to look at her. "If he's not on this one," she says, "then we'll just keep sinking ships until we find him."
"Let's start with the other ship," Erica says.
"The other ship?" Robin asks.
Erica nods, pointing in the direction they'd just come from. "A few leagues before we found this one, I saw another one that was sailing in the other direction. Maybe they crossed paths."
For a brief moment, Robin wonders how she missed the other ship. But then she remembers how she's been caught between her own worries and keeping the guppies from spiraling, and she gives herself a break. "Yeah," she says, nodding as she closes her fingers over the scales. The edges cut into her palms but don't draw blood. "Let's go track down that ship. But don't keep something like that from me next time."
The guppies all nod in agreement, and Robin looks at the wreckage around them. She's half-tempted to let the guppies loot the rest of the ship, but she knows they're all aching to find Steve already. So, Robin herds them away from the sunken ship in the direction Erica pointed and hopes Steve can hold on for just a little longer.
----
Excerpt from "The Lovelorn Fool's Guide to Merfolk Courtship"
Song Types
There are several song types that merfolk are likely to use in their lifetime. While the human ear cannot distinguish the intricacies of the songs, it can tell the major categories apart.
As newly-born guppies, they know only how to vocalize wordless sounds based on their needs. These sounds are referred to as Guppy Songs. These songs are generally lacking in any real melody or rhythm. They are rough and unskilled, but many caretakers consider them precious.
Pod songs are shared tunes and melodies among the pod to communicate big news. When hearing a pod song from a lone merperson, it will sound incomplete. Pod songs usually require at least one other merperson to support or respond to the initial measures, which creates a complete and satisfying loop.
Individual songs are varied and unique, as the name suggests. They cover a range of emotions that simply can't be communicated through regular speech or bubble patterns (to learn more about bubble patterns, please see Part I: The Basics). Among these songs, the most important to know is the courting song, which can actually be multiple songs using the same opening measures and melodies with slightly different tones.
Now that you know the most basic kind of songs, we can move to harmonizing. Truthfully, a human's ability to harmonize with a merperson is nearly impossible. However, it can be done with an instrument, which can reach ranges the human voice cannot. So, if you don't know how to play one, I'd suggest learning. Harmonizing is a key step in the courtship process, after all.
----
Steve shrieks as Eddie spins him around, the sound high and grating, and clings tighter to Eddie's neck. His tailfin slaps Eddie behind his knee, hard enough to make him falter and slip on the rain-soaked deck. He falls on his ass, Steve safely in his lap, and laughs. The charms in his hair knock against each other, and Steve idly reaches up to brush his finger against one. "What was that for?" Eddie asks, the words slightly breathless.
"You surprised me," Steve says, frowning slightly as raindrops catch in his eyelashes and make them heavy. He holds a hand above his eyes and then does the same for Eddie.
"You just looked so pretty, sweetheart," Eddie says, grinning at Steve like he knows what bubble pattern his fluttering gills would create (flustered and flattered).
He rolls his eyes, looking at the sky and sea in the distance. The ocean is surging, and waves and sea foam collide as the wind picks up force. Dark clouds hang over the sea, and Steve would be concerned if he didn't know the storm would clear up soon. He can tell from the sound of the ocean and the taste in the air: the water isn't angry enough and there isn't enough salt on his lips.
The rain is still going to turn brutal, though, and Steve would prefer they weren't on deck when it happens. He overheard Asher and Jeff talking about the last time Eddie got soaked to the bone and got sick. He's not sure what a "cold" is, but he doesn't want Eddie catching it again.
"Let's go back to the cabin," he says, looking back at Eddie with a light smile. "I want to hear you play that, uh, gee-tare."
"Guitar, Stevie," Eddie corrects, holding Steve tight as he stands. He has an excited smile, something expectant in his eyes that Steve still hasn't figured out.
Steve hums, knowing very well how it's pronounced, but he likes to see the somewhat dopey smile Eddie gets whenever he mispronounces something. He gets the feeling Eddie also knows he's doing it on purpose, but he's not said anything yet.
Eddie carries him down to the captain's cabin, kicking the door shut with his foot. "Where do you want to be, sweetheart?" he asks.
After a moment's consideration, Steve gestures to the bed, looking forward to the soft pillows and even softer sheets. When Eddie places him down, he wiggles until his tail is curled comfortably, soaking the sheets beneath him, and looks at Eddie expectantly.
"Any requests?" Eddie asks, clearly amused as he grabs his guitar and hops onto the bed next to Steve. His knee brushes against Steve's tail, drawing Steve's attention briefly to the faint scar that lingers across his scales.
He's been healed for almost a day now, and Steve should probably start bracing himself to say goodbye, but he'd like to remain in denial a little longer. He doesn't want to leave. Even if he knows he'll come right back with Robin and the guppies, Steve doesn't want to be away from Eddie that long. They haven't even confirmed their courtship. Leaving before they do means any merperson with half a brain could see how much of a pearl Eddie is and try to steal him away.
Steve forces the thought away, forces himself to focus on answering Eddie's question, and shakes his head. "Just play something," he says.
Eddie nods and thinks a moment as he tunes the guitar. "Could you hum something?" he asks.
When he looks up at Steve again, there's something oddly intense in his gaze. He looks determined, as though something very important is riding on this moment. Steve isn't sure what it is, exactly, but he knows he doesn't want it to pass him by. Steve nods and starts humming a soft and familiar tune, one he's used a lot more after meeting Eddie.
It must be the right choice, because Eddie practically lights up, a grin tugging at his lips and crinkling the corners of his eyes as he listens. After a few seconds, he starts plucking strings on the guitar, adding a gentle accompaniment that makes Steve's humming rock back and forth like the ocean currents.
Usually, Eddie plays fast, his music filling Steve with the same heat and energy as an underwater volcano in the middle of an eruption. But this is slow and sweet like the honey Steve tried a few days ago. It creeps through him, his gills fluttering with each note that Eddie pulls from his guitar. He feels soft and happy, his voice shifting to follow Eddie's lead as inspiration hits him.
They trade the lead back and forth between them, and Steve starts to actually sing at some point. He doesn't know when he opened his mouth and started to vocalize the notes instead of just humming them, a sweet melody forming as his voice resonates with the guitar. It just happens as naturally as swimming. Steve can no longer tell where his voice ends and the guitar begins. They've fallen into sync, strumming and singing together without missing a beat.
Steve leans closer, his heart pounding against his ribs even faster than usual. They're harmonizing. He realizes it suddenly, but it doesn't catch him off-guard. It's just a whisper in the back of his mind, a little nudge that makes him smile and move without thinking beyond the desire to be closer.
The song doesn't end naturally. In fact, Eddie is in the middle of a particularly lovely string of notes when Steve kisses him, still humming low in his throat. Eddie's fingers fumble, a sour note pulling from the guitar, but Steve doesn't care. He's too busy wrapping one hand around the back of Eddie's neck and placing the other on Eddie's chest.
He can feel Eddie's heart beating just as rapidly as his own, and Steve presses closer. He's barely balancing on his tail as Eddie moves the guitar from his lap, pushing it to the side of the bed while he kisses Steve back. Eddie pushes his hand into Steve's hair, tangling his fingers in the strands.
Steve's humming happily rises in pitch, and he finally loses his balance, his weight pressing entirely on Eddie and causing him to fall back on the bed. The kiss breaks when Eddie bounces slightly, their foreheads knocking together, and Steve can't help laughing.
"You're fucking gorgeous, sweetheart," Eddie whispers, his free hand trailing to Steve's waist and settling on his back. His fingers brush against the line where scales meet skin, and Steve shudders, his mouth going dry, and he kisses Eddie again before he can say another word.
----
Tag List (the tag list is full! I wasn't able to fit everyone, so if you aren't on here, I'd suggest following #high seas steddie. I think you should still get updates on your dash if you do)
@mugloversonly, @raisedbylibrarians, @thegirlwiththelibrarybag, @savory-babby, @vankaar, @beckkthewreck, @itcanbepalped, @imfinereallyy, @finntheehumaneater, @mightbeasleep, @weekend-dreamer7
@whenindoubtb72, @troublemaker2azz, @just-a-tiny-void, @upallnightogetloki, @mxmakessense, @ellietheasexylibrarian, @haelreadsshit, @y4r3luv, @starman-jpg, @littlewildflowerkitten, @estrellami-1, @stevieschrodinger, @gaelicblue, @they-reap-what-we-sow
@5ammi90, @noodle-shenaniganery, @acrolius, @hallelujahimatheist, @rainbow-freckle, @desidrarry-wolfstarshipper, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @79chevyimpala, @aliea82, @hopefulcookieoperatorpersona, @sani-86, @queenie-ofthe-void, @goosesister, @hello-fellow-nerds, @luthienstormblessed, @xtkxkrzrizir, @potato-of-the-lord, @geekymagicalpotato, @child-of-cthulhu, @aizawa-emma, @m-owo-n, @newtstabber, @cartercaptainofthemoon, @spectrum-spectre, @a-little-unsteddie
And, if you've made it this far, here's a little meme for your entertainment
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soupbabe · 6 months
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Unfit (OPLA! Klahadore/Kuro x Fat! Reader)
While Kaya offered up her expansive collection of clothes, Reader can't find something that fits them.
Self indulgent fic time babey!! It's been rough lately, I've really been wanting to write something like this.
Warnings: Insecure reader, lil bit of angst and out of character comfort from Klahadore<3
Standing alone in front of a mirror, you frowned. You're sure Kaya had good intentions in providing you and your crew nicer clothes. Her wardrobe is so big that you can't blame her when she insisted that you'd find something. Yet, her kind words didn't stop the growing pile of pants you couldn't button all the way next to you. Taking a deep, but shakey breath, you took off the piece of clothing and added it to the neatly folded stack that hid behind a privacy screen. The evening was supposed to be fun, easy. All you had to do was be on your best behavior until Luffy and Usopp secured the ship. Even Nami and Zoro were able to let loose with some drinks and a fashion show. Instead, you're curling in on yourself, in your underwear, and trying not to lose it over a pair of pants.
Though, left on your lonesome, negative thoughts spiral quickly. Mumbling reassurance evolved into scolding. "You're supposed to be a pirate. Pirates don't care about shit like this. They don't care about pants..." You felt your face burn in embarrassment. Seeing everyone grab all the clothes they wanted and it'd fit like a glove made you feel delusional, stupid.
A gentle knock on the wall made the neck on your hair stand straight. "Hello? Y/n?" A smooth voice called out. You froze in place, eyes wide at the realization: It's Klahadore. Swiftly wiping away at your eyes, you took a deep breath and responded from behind a privacy screen. "I'm here." "Dinner starts in 5 minutes, everyone is expecting you to join us. You're not plotting something, are you?" Jolting, you reach out and try to put on the shorts you walked into the mansion with. Though in your panic, you tripped over a pant leg and knocked over both the tower of clothes you laid out before and the privacy screen that hid you from the butler's view.
A small gasp emitted from Klahadore as he peered down at you on the floor, your pants barely hanging onto your hips. "My word.. are you alright?" You laid there frozen in terror, hesitant to take the hand he reached out. Your gaze was glued to the ground, the embarrassment was just too much. You wanted to sink into the walls of dresses and jackets and suffocate beneath the satin. A gloved hand traced the outline of your face until it held a firm grip on your chin. Tilting your face upwards until your eyes met his, Klahadore spoke up. "I asked if you're alright. If I'm not mistaken, I told you to dress nice too and you're in the same clothes you came in here with. What's taking you so long?" His questions felt like demands, as if you're being interrogated. His voice sent shivers down your spine, everything he says is tactful. Like he wants you to shake under his gaze. Swallowing the lump in your throat and your pride, you speak up. "I couldn't find anything to wear... nothing fit." Your voice grew dim towards the latter half of your admission, but that's what all it took for Klahadore to smile, to be pleased with you answering back.
As he withdrew your hand, your face burned bright. With any luck, you'd faint and no longer have to talk to him. "I was worried of that happening. Unfortunately, Miss Kaya shot down the idea of giving you extra clothing from the servant quarters." He tilted his head to get a better look at your puffy eyes and flushed face. "Is there anything else I should know about?" "Nothing.." "I don't like liars, Y/n. Tell me what's on your mind." His tone, while commanding, felt softer. It's like he's butler first, human later. He's only being kind after getting what he wanted after you.
"I'm just tired of not fitting into things...no matter what I try, I'll always be too big for stuff." You scowled. "I just..I just want to look nice. I want to look and feel good like Zoro or Nami. I don't want servant clothes, Kaya promised we'd look our best and I want to actually feel like it." You felt your nose sting and your eyes water. Klahadore watched you intently, hearing your voice increase in anger and intensity. Taking out a handkerchief, the ex pirate captain wiped away the tears that highlighted your chubby cheeks.
"While I don't have the means to provide you with what you want specifically, I want you to stay here. I'll be back in a minute." He sat you down on the ottoman that sat in the middle of the room and vanished into the dark hallway. However, Klahadore was a man of his word. Within seconds he returned with a folded outfit in hand: black dress pants and a white button up shirt. On top of the outfit though, were a couple of jewelry boxes. Inside revealed a golden necklace with the silhouette of a cat and a matching ring with a similar insignia. "Consider it a gift. It's something I've held onto before Miss Kaya's parents took me in, I think it's time for me to let it go." His smile was small, genuine.
Klahadore waiting outside patiently as you tried on the clothes he's given you. From outside the screens, he could hear a rollercoaster of emotions: fear, disbelief, enjoyment. "Did I choose right for you?" He asked, to which you strutted out to answer his question. Your shirt was tucked in, though largely unbuttoned to show off your chest and most importantly, the necklace. "How does it fit?" You spun around and Klahadore drank in the view. You never hid your curvy figure, only accentuated it. While he holds himself to a high standard, he can't admit that it didn't drive him mad.
He walked up and smoothed down the wrinkles on your shirt, his touch lingering on your shoulders and soft waist. "Fits like a glove." He stood tall wants more and linked his arm with yours. "Now, it's almost time for dinner. It'd be a shame to keep Miss Kaya waiting."
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ladyluscinia · 5 months
Text
"What if it weren't like that?"
...or I'd like to propose a different theory of what's going on in Edward's head.
Going into the S2 finale, I feel like there's once again a huge consensus that Edward and piracy are an unsustainable mix, and he has to quit. Specifically after 2x07 he knows for sure, 100% that he wants to quit, and he's pulling away from Stede because he doesn't know how to communicate that certainty to him.
There's a very established meta framework backing up this belief. It's not new, just everyone pointing and saying "look! - the show is affirming us" at the same time. And it does make a lot of points about foundational trauma, the violence of the lifestyle, etc. I don't need to break it down for you. If you're seeing this post then you've seen the arguments before.
The thing is... I'm not actually sold on this read.
Edward is a complicated guy and I love to try and peel back his layers, and I'm not sure that retirement is truly his endgame. And maybe more importantly... I'm not sure retirement endgame is quite the thematic crescendo it's being presented as.
So let's talk a bit about Edward, particularly in 2x06 and 2x07.
---
Edward's Ongoing Depression Spiral
The thing about backsliding - and the Kraken was a pretty monumental backslide - is that even if you gain a lot of ground afterward, you still might not be much further than where you started.
Edward believing change is possible with Button's 2x04 guidance + his & Stede's conversation about taking it slow at the end of 2x05 are both huge steps for a guy that was openly suicidal at the beginning of the season. However, in the grand scheme of things, he's pretty much cycled back to the dilemma he was facing in S1 - continuing life as it was is intolerable, but he doesn't actually have a solid idea of what he wants. "Stede" is not a real, actionable answer.
In S1, this caused him to run recklessly into extremes of vulnerability with Stede because Stede was doing something different. He tried to metaphorically cut loose his entire history - as a pirate, as Blackbeard, as Edward Teach - and become a new "Ed" with no baggage, who was free to live an endless vacation honeymoon with his new boyfriend. And when the consequences of their own actions came crashing back in - an abandoned Izzy, Spanish Jackie, and Chauncey Badminton - Edward's desperate actions to save Stede turned into over-commitment to a guy he barely knows, a reckless plan to run halfway around the world to escape himself, and then a truly disastrous downturn when that blew up in his face.
Wherever you go, there you are - except Edward hates that guy. Edward's only concrete want so far for the new direction of his life is the one thing that's impossible - to not be Edward Teach.
So now, back to contemplating the same unknown future he was trying to chase in S1, the Kraken Era has given Edward new perspective, for better and worse. (I'm gonna link my rambling BlackHands / Kraken Era thoughts from 2x01 - 2x03 just because.) He's learned caution and is dipping his toes in self-reflection - Stede's love alone is not enough to save him, and his self-loathing has been acknowledged. Reckless pursuit of change without growth was doomed - an important lesson both Stede and Edward have started to learn.
Unfortunately, growth requires looking backwards, and if Edward was already disinclined to that due to killing his dad, he's struggling so much worse now that he's got months of fresh atrocities that he absolutely did not need to commit.
---
Drowning in Guilt
Edward's core trauma that he flashes to constantly goes back to killing his dad that night - something notably not associated with piracy. That guilt is the root of his self-loathing, but Edward is a rather troubled grown man with guilt aplenty, especially after the first two episodes of S2.
In 2x05 Edward starts with a CEO scripted non-apology firmly recategorizing all of his Kraken actions as "whatever that nasty dark stuff was that brought us here... it's in the past", and then his discussion with Stede does not involve too much reflection on why this probation is necessary and drops this gem:
"Oh fuck no. Apologizing? Nah. Didn't apologize for jack shit."
However - demonstrating self awareness / growth - he's also clearly projecting guilt and a desire (that's almost too big to look at) to apologize to Izzy for everything, and then he honestly talks with Fang (who he's known for 20 years!) about how he can not be understandably mad at him, after Fang pushes back on Edward's toxic rewriting of Knife Parade. He even learns to sit with himself!
All of which makes the start of 2x06 so layered.
We open with Edward sitting with himself, looking out over the ocean and stewing in guilt - in order: his dad, the storm, Izzy's toe, shooting Izzy, driving the crew to mutiny - and then the conversation that Edward was haunted by all last episode comes to him. He's back in his leathers - playacting the penitent with the onesie and cat bell got old after a day, and he had never truly linked his probation rules with any of his earnest feelings of remorse. Just a necessary performance to appease the crew.
Now he's himself again, as uncomfortable in his own skin as ever, and Edward Teach apologizes for Izzy's leg. He isn't being demanded to apologize by Izzy (no matter how much he may deserve it). Izzy is fully prepared to pretend it never happened despite the evidence of his body. But Edward wants to - needs to for the babiest step toward his own peace of mind - and so he does.
And then he flees from one guilt and accidentally stumbles into another. Stede has so helpfully pulled all Edward's Kraken treasure into one place, and Edward lampshades it:
"Excellent. A reminder of all my guilt. A guilt room."
Now, Stede has a decent idea here. His "poison into positivity" bit is not bad (and it echoes the language Izzy and Edward used - though I think it's a tossup whether Stede heard about that or if the parallel is purely on a Doylist level). It definitely lifts Edward's mood for the day and pulls him out of his guilt spiral for a bit.
Until it comes back so much worse.
Ned Low. Oh fuck the implications of Ned Low.
So here's the thing. People have rightly observed that Edward broke Ned's record intentionally during Kraken Era. In fact, since he makes the comment about "We got a record to break" after the wedding boat aka the last ship he takes, and Ned isn't coming after him for a tie, presumably he set the new record and then proceeded to break it over and over again. Just to rub it in. Just to really piss the sadist off.
And if Edward's attempt to take the whole ship and crew down with a storm at his lowest point was bad, what he was courting by baiting Ned before the season even started was worse. This is a man who would have tortured everyone on the breakup boat to death when he caught up to them, and Edward was passively planning on letting him do it.
Edward knows this.
Poison into positivity just became "oh shit I forgot I'm the most poisonous thing any of these people have ever run into," and he's just getting started. It's hard to shove it down and brush it off and pretend it was no big deal when Stede starts getting the hot poker to the chest.
He doesn't want to kill Ned because he's not worth the poison, but the poison is already here.
When Stede kills Ned, Edward has already spiraled. He's already got a whole narrative in his head about how this is all his fault, how this is his poison, his guilt, his Kraken surfacing to ruin Stede too.
"I'm not a good person, Stede. That's why I don't have any friends," Edward chokes out.
"It all boils down to this - You're afraid you're unlovable," snarls Hornigold's ghost in the gravy basket.
"I hate myself," Edward realizes.
"Don't do it, Stede. Killing in cold blood" - like I did - "you can't come back from that" - like I haven't.
Edward's guilt is projecting all over this scene. He's made some baby steps toward seeing Stede as a flawed person vs mythical mermaid whose love can save him, but the idealization is still coloring both their views. Stede still hasn't told Edward about any of his childhood traumas or deep seated insecurities, and Edward has continuously avoided putting together that Stede is fucked up as well. He's convinced himself that killing Ned Low is a great tragedy that will permanently scar Stede's previously unblemished goodness in a way that is all Edward's fault, and he's sticking to it despite how completely it does not apply.
Reality has never been much good at breaking through his self-loathing before.
Izzy tries to warn him to give Stede a minute, but Edward doesn't listen. And while there's a good amount of concerned boyfriend in that act, I also suspect there's more than a little self-harm. Edward's spiraling about what he's wrought. He shows up at Stede's door already paralleling this to killing his dad. Of course he wants to be in the blast radius.
Apparently, having sex about it.
---
"Bye-Bye" Blackbeard, See You Again Soon
Last season, when Edward's ignoring his past went poorly, he tried to metaphorically bundle Blackbeard and all his traumas up and cast them into the sea. He was "Edward Teach Born-on-a-Beach," and then "No-Beard" who found folding stuff in prison fun, and then he's kissing Stede and getting excited about picking new, cool names for China, because:
"Our old lives would be gone. Dead. Never were."
Edward, babygirl, that is not how that works.
Now, he's actively backsliding down a guilt spiral, just had ill-advised sex a day after the "take it slow" talk that he's already regretting, and he gets up in the morning, pulls on another goddamn robe, and goes to literally bundle Blackbeard up and cast him into the sea.
Babe you already tried this.
I don't think it's a coincidence that disposing of his leathers signals Edward is back to reckless change instead of intentional change. He tries to make breakfast in bed despite never having ever made breakfast before and explains his twine as a panicked decision. The idealization of Stede is back in force - he chooses now to tell him about the mermaid vision - "fantastic," he describes him - and thanks him for saving his life. (Once again, in times of trouble, Edward is the one offering up rosy imaginations for their relationship that swallow him whole and Stede is shoving his recent childhood trauma flashbacks down to be Normal™.)
In the Republic, Edward does avoid becoming straight up jealous of all Stede's positive infamy, but he's also doing his hardcore all or nothing thing again - this time running away from himself toward a grubby, poor, "nobody" version of Ed (or do we think he's gonna try "Jeff" again?). Jackie calls his attention to how his new life direction (as of 6 hours ago) is not necessarily aligned with Stede's, and - rather than doing something as crazy as talking - he mutters "shit" and heads to the docks where Izzy finds him.
For a guy who felt "Fucking great" throwing away his leathers, Edward sounds kind of sarcastic, even if I'm sure he's feeling just as light as he was on that Naval Academy beach. But Izzy - going through his own shit but still trying to be supportive - opened this conversation with a joke about Stede and I suspect thinks they are talking about putting the "Edward retiring to be with Stede" plan back on the table. (Edward could clear this up, but he's still not communicating his emotions to Izzy.) So Izzy encourages him:
"Maybe you should listen to it."
Edward's face falls, he looks back down at the fishing boat, and apparently gets himself a new job. He just needs to go dump his boyfriend about it. They're simply incompatible, you see?
Edward's a fisherman now. He's gonna sit with himself until he finds a better guy in there, just like Fang taught him. (Don't blame Fang for this 😆 he just wanted Edward to stop talking!)
Now there's a lot going on in the breakup scene, but I want to talk about one statement Edward makes (keeping in mind he's already spiraled all the way into his new fisherman identity):
"I don't even know who I am! Alright, I know I don't want to be a pirate, but you..."
Because, see - I don't think the second part of that is necessarily true.
It's not that Edward doesn't want to be "a pirate". That's what he's using as shorthand (and a way to strongly delineate his new career from Stede: "Fishermen and pirates - they're nothing alike.").
What he's not saying is, once again, I know I don't want to be Edward Teach.
And, babygirl, I love you... but too fucking bad.
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Better Piracy as a Theme
There's a lot of meta around about how Edward views piracy as a kind of enforced toxic masculinity. How his traumas are woven so thoroughly into his Blackbeard career that the thought of continuing as a pirate is killing him. He has to retire. It's the only way he'll truly be happy as "just Edward."
And I question that framing.
Like... Edward clearly has trauma tied up in piracy. His time on Hornigold's ship appears to have defined his (and Calico's Jack's) fairly fucked up approach to casual violence. His time as Blackbeard has enabled his poor impulses, and he is absolutely sick of piracy as he's experienced it the first time we meet him. That's not in question.
But while leaving is one solution, I think change is another.
In the OFMD universe, piracy is not a stand-in for toxic masculinity. Stede, an outsider, describes it as a "culture of abuse" in the first episode, but it's the culture of piracy where we see openly gay relationships, polyamory, freedom of expression in clothing and presentation, the oppressed having power... to treat piracy as inherently toxic is to deny that the culture of piracy is what gave life to Calypso's Birthday party. Our main characters are pirates.
There is a lot of violence and most pirates are very troubled people, but it's not piracy's fault. That's getting the cause and effect reversed. The "problem" with piracy and pirate culture is that the people coming into it and building this community are already traumatized.
As Edward points out to Stede:
"It's usually something like that. It's often family-based stuff."
(Also the problem might be the pirate Captains, lol. I mean, if you start listing the major drivers and enablers of toxic culture... Hornigold, Ned Low, Calico Jack, Blackbeard. Fortunate, then, that the crew of the Revenge is demonstrating that piracy can also be about workers' unions and supporting each other against your shitty boss while operating in a thriving community. He can play nice or get out.)
Oluwande tells us from the start that people don't choose to be pirates - they get forced into it by terrible circumstances in a terrible society. Piracy is the community that accepts the outcasts, but it can't magically fix them. They have to do that themselves, which our crew is showing can be done.
Stede did not swan in with all the answers, but he gave his crew the space and all the confused-yet-well-meant support they needed to strengthen their own bonds and community. Oluwande and Frenchie especially have been really stepping up in leadership positions. Like, the whole plot of 2x05 was showing they have successfully formed a union and that they will operate as a united front against their captains if need arises. It's so good!
They are living that better culture that Stede wanted so bad, and it's not just our crew.
Piracy influenced by the Revenge crew has been shown as helpful and even desirable to chase.
Hellcat Maggie and the rest of Low's crew don't sail off to get new jobs - they are resuming piracy but this time talking about profit sharing. Anne and Mary, our oh so aggressive BlackBonnet mirrors, retired from piracy together like Edward was dreaming of in 1x09, and what "fixes" them is burning it all down and returning to piracy (rejecting Mary's fears) with their love at the forefront of their minds.
Edward wants to leave piracy behind forever because he has depression and hates himself, but the biggest thing he hates himself for isn't even a thing he did as a pirate. He's pushing back on his Hornigold trauma from the moment we meet him - in fact, I have a whole other meta idea I need to pull together after the season about how he has potentially thought he was doing "soft piracy" in spite of Hornigold this whole time - but the guilt he feels about killing his dad is still too big for him to even look at. And that won't go away even if he could cut 20+ years of Blackbeard out of his chest.
He's bored. He was stagnating. He needs to address that knot of self-loathing before it successfully drowns him.
Maybe people are right and he could be the one pirate to find peace operating a bed and breakfast? Maybe he'll follow in Jackie's footsteps and stay connected to the community by running a gay bar or something?
But I also think, maybe, he has a community surrounding him, a home and love on the sea, and a career with plenty of aspects he did enjoy - sailing, fuckeries, luxuries, creative problem solving - and he might just need to join everyone in striving for a better culture?
And step one would be realizing that wherever he goes, he's still Edward Teach, and he's got to stop running from that fact.
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iamadequate1 · 3 months
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Izzy and Weaponized Therapy
I accidentally opened Twitter again, and at the top of the algorithm was a canyonite comment about how they were eagerly waiting for the OFMD cancellation announcement any day now. I instantly closed and decided to feed Tumblr's Izzy tag instead.
So....
While I'm waiting for the renewal announcement (that is 100% happening), the comments of this post triggered something in my brain with the points that it's very important that most of Izzy's abuse is done when he's alone with Ed. If Ed fights back (say, as in a pirate universe, by shooting his leg) where others can see it, it looks unprovoked and that Ed is being unreasonable.
One thing I don't think I've seen touched on much is this line:
Izzy: I'm worried about you. We all are. The atmosphere on this ship is completely poisoned, but if we could all just maybe talk it through. Ed: As a crew?
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It's a comment that snowballs through the season and demonstrates why Izzy's S2 "redemption" arc really falls flat for me. It sounds reasonable on the surface, but look at the context by looking at the progression of solo Ed & Izzy scenes.
1x10: Ed is starting to come out of his breakup depression, but Izzy does the big threat where Ed's "Wonderful. You know we share our thoughts on this ship." is met with "I should've let the English kill you. This, whatever it is that you've become is a fate worse than death. (...) No, this, this is Blackbeard! Not some namby-pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend. (...) There he is. Blackbeard is my captain. I serve Blackbeard, not Edward. Edward better watch his fuckin' step." Full thing written because some people keep forgetting it.
1x10: The Toe Scene. The violence is an act already established as acceptable in this pirate universe, and Ed is throwing his protective persona back on and asserting his dominance over Izzy.
2x1: Shortly after the raid montage, Ed hides the Not Stede cake topper as Izzy enters the room. They dance around the crew not being happy, and Ed calls Izzy a lightweight.
2x1: This "talk it through" scene that includes the strange "I have love for you" statement.
They stand next to each other in two or three scenes in there (like watching the new Blackbeard flag rise), but that is the progression of their interactions, and they are all away from an audience.
I may be repeating some things from my Media Literacy post, but here it goes anyway: Ed and Izzy aren't real people. The writers are telling a story, and what they choose to put onscreen and the progression of it is important. On Ed's response, you have to look at what information he is privy to: he did not hear the shaky "Blackbeard is himself again" when Stede's library was being destroyed, and he did not witness Fang hugging Izzy and Frenchie holding his hand. This is it, and we don't get to invent extra scenes to make Izzy look better and make Ed unreasonable for not responding to "talk it through" with, yeah, man, let's sit down and have a chat.
In the interactions between Ed and Izzy, it's all about threats and self preservation. Izzy's threats to Ed mirrors Chauncey's threats to Stede: Ed and Stede had their worst fears about themselves thrown at them while under a death threat, and they both took dramatic (and ill advised) course corrections. In Ed's case, he came into the series with death ideation, and it flowed into his suicidal arc at the beginning of S2, an arc jump started by Izzy.
Ed has no reason to believe Izzy's "talk it through" is genuine. Izzy is the one to confirm that Ed is unlovable, that he has no purpose other than being Blackbeard, a ghost. They are approximately three months into this "poison," three months into a spiral that was triggered by Ed trying to "talk it through." "Talk it through" without any support of a previous good faith attempt at reversing this spiral in three months honestly comes off as mocking and genuinely as a weaponization of therapy speak (remember Jonah Hill?), using words that sound close to what someone who cares would say (say, someone like Stede) but are masking self serving reasons and a desire for control.
And Ed really had it confirmed that he was right to not trust Izzy there, didn't he? He moves the conversation to an audience, and Izzy shifts his argument from an attempt at a non-judgmental "We're worried about you" to a tone of "You're being completely unreasonable."
Izzy: The atmosphere on this ship is fucked. Everyone knows why. Ed: Well, I don't. Enlighten me. Izzy: Your feelings for Stede fuckin' Bonnet.
But in 1x10, we (and Izzy!) know that Ed had been moving on from his heartbreak from Stede and that Ed's issues now are stemming from how he felt before he met Stede.
Izzy retcons this event two episodes later, in 2x3:
Izzy: Alright, Bonnet, have it your way. He went mad. He tortured the crew. He took my fuckin' leg 'cause I dared to mention your fuckin' name. He was a wild dog, and we dealt with him like one. Stede: You sent him to doggie heaven. Izzy: No, I could never do that. We deserted him on a beach, left nature to do the rest. More than he would've done for us. You and me did this to him, and we cannot let this crew suffer any more for our mistakes.
(First, hearing "He went mad!" from a guy who called Ed "insane" all of S1 for just wanting to have a bit of amusement is rich...)
Again, the last part sounds like something a human who cares would say, but... as established, Ed's feelings for Stede weren't the main problem, and more importantly!: 1) Ed has free will and is not some passive damsel in an Izzy vs Stede war, 2) people are not responsible for an ex's bad reaction to a breakup, and 3) Izzy didn't know what had happened to Stede! Ed just knew that Stede didn't show up, so that's as much as Izzy knew. Izzy only knew that Stede had just reappeared on The Revenge at that moment with no explanation. Izzy had let the poison ferment for three months, and now that Stede is back, Izzy just eagerly foists half the blame on Stede. What? Why?
Now, the first part is why Izzy is firmly an Unreliable Narrator. We were shown explicitly why Ed shot Izzy, and it was not just for daring to say Stede's name. This is emphasized further when Izzy retcons the shooting again in 2x7 (and Stede just plays along?):
Izzy: Ya know what he did when I told him I loved him? Stede/Izzy: He shot you/me.
Izzy is a mess. I know that there are some posts floating around that criticize the poor writing of this, but I take it more as confirmation that Izzy is just letting reality be whatever he feels like at that moment.
This is why we, the audience, should not trust Izzy's dramatic "He tortured the crew!" to judge Ed, and we should not trust a statement that sounds like a clear headed, therapeutic response without first looking at the motivation and context around it. Izzy says things that sound nice, but that doesn't mean he means is being truthful.
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Consider a corabug concept where Cora lives solely bc Buggy was involved in the Incident With The Donquixote Family.
Law still gets the Devil Fruit. He still gets locked away for safety. Cora still plans to sacrifice himself to save Law no matter what, he is COMMITTED, that is his KID -
But Buggy, our beloved cringefail baby boy, somehow gets lost, befriends a secret underground criminal sect, happens across the end of the Incident, and now has Cora bleeding out and Law, recovered and held on his hip. Where does he go? These wounds are bad! Worse than he can treat right off!
Enter crime squad. "You, blue haired jester man, are so charming and cute and have a Vibe We Like. We'll help your husband... if you also help us in turn by feeding us information."
Buggy, fairly desperate, goes "Alright bet"
They end up faking Rosi's death. He survives, and only they know. The trio scuttle off the island under cover, and Buggy has a contact in his sticker covered, gel pen filled contacts book.
Law still goes on to become the surgeon of death, Buggy still goes on to make a valiant attempt at being a run of the mill east blue pirate, which still blows up in his face.
But Cora is now free. No Marines. No crime family to infiltrate. Just him, his beloved, and their kid.
Cora stays with Buggy, and they both encourage Law to follow his dreams and goals, and Buggy actually ends up finding the medical texts Law devours like candy to be absolutely FASCINATING. Cora loves his silly lil nerds ♡♡
They have a few close calls, but things work out in ways that seem absolutely impossible but damn if it didn't happen.
Law sets sail, and Buggy has his circus and crew. Cora eventually picks up on some extra skills, and the two wind up having a trapeze or aerial show together. It's cute and cheesy and they're living the absolute dream, truly!
And then Shanks calls. Asks Buggy to test his protégé, this little rubber dumbass named Luffy.
This starts a spiral of Wacky Bad Things, but it works out in the end. ((The only thing stopping Cora from storming Impel Down or caling Sengoku is Alvida's voice of reason, and the responsibility he feels to his husband's crew, his own friends.))
Somehow things work out? Kinda?? And Cora gets to meet Shanks, who gave Buggy a ride from the hellhole that was Marineford. ((He also gets a sweet smiled shovel talk that has him quaking in his boots. Then Buggy punches Shanks, and suddenly they're wrestling on the ground like children. Cora is Confused. Benn just offers him a smoke.))
When Cross Guild begins, Cora is accustomed to Buggy's wacked out luck stats. He has learned to roll with the punches and also recognize when Bugs is Planning smth and when things simply Happen. This is a mix of both.
He walks in on a "meeting" and just. Pauses. "...."
"...."
".... Bugs, baby."
"Y-yes, my love?"
"You know I don't mind you indulging in certain plays I am uncomfortable with with different people, but these men..."
"..."
"They're hot. You should have invited me. Btw I brought snacks."
Croc and Hawk are SHOOKETH but Buggy just goes "oooh yay! Is it the silly fruits?"
Anyway I just think this would be funny and silly and weird and I'm not caffinated enough for more than this okay ily byyyeeee
I think about Cora living cause Buggy was involved with him and Law so often. Like I’m so fr when I say that it makes me sad that they never met in canon cause they would have been so silly.
Everything going up to the point of Cora’s sacrifice and Law in the chest when all of a sudden after Doffy and his bitches leave Buggy rushes out and immediately starts working on Cora and being all “Fuckjng Christ babe what the hell were you thinking?!” Because Buggy’s tired of having self sacrificial people in his life that leave him cause they think they know what’s best.
The criminal sect rolls back up to help Buggy and they get Cora, Buggy, and Law over to the nearest island (Swallow Island) to get better medical help and leave them there (not without striking a information swapping deal).
Now with a “dead husband” and “missing child” Buggy and his growing family (they gain the other 3 at Swallow) he retreats back to east blue with his family in tow and everything continues as cannon.
Up until Shanks calls Buggy to check on his protégé who just set sail. Buggy does so and he still stabs the hat cause it’s got him feeling….things. Cora is also the one who retrieves Buggy’s body and waits for him cause Buggy sent him a signal saying he was making his way back.
Of course Garp comes and takes Buggy shortly after the incident in Orange Town and notices a blond man among the crew Buggy bargained himself for (maybe sending a quick letter to Sengoku).
Impel down is a nightmare for Cora cause he’s terrified for his scheming husband who is not the strongest in that prison even if he is the craftiest. He’s helping Alvida with the crew which causes the two to bond and when Cora finally meets Shanks he’s shocked to see him and Buggy play wrestling like their still brats and not grown men.
He knows his husband never truly hated Shanks it’s more a roundabout resentment than anything. Cora does get shovel talked and it does leave him wary but you can be Buggy’s spouse without some snark so he does give Shanks a bit of a mouthy comment. Luckily Shanks finds it funny cause it’s a jab about Shanks trying to save his nightmare of a baby brother who is more of a menace than his protégé Luffy. A big party is thrown in lieu to the wedding party that Shanks missed originally and both the crews have a fabulous time.
Later on Cora gets a run down of what happened and that Buggy is now taking a loan from thee Sir Crocodile and there is some sort of plan that his husband is keeping from the crew, Alvida, and even him!
(Imma be honest I don’t have much love for Coracroc so plz be patient 🙏)
When Croc comes to collect the money with Mihawks Buggy claims he doesn’t have it which Cora, Alvida, and the others find strange cause Buggy is always watching his money. Cora can tell there’s a plot being hatched and it’s not until he walks in on the meeting that he says the other two are hot that the other two realize Buggy is dating this giant.
Buggy agrees to keep the other twos abuse secret from Cora as long as they play along with what Cora believes is happening since Cora thinks that Buggy lied about not having the money just to get Croc and Hawk to stick around. This causes the other two to actually end up falling for Buggy and he reveals to everyone he wants to go after The One Piece.
Cora doesn’t find out about what was really happening until years later when the other two also have wedding rings on their fingers.
Also sorry this took a little bit for me to get back lol. Found out I work with a Blood and this is Florida so I need to keep shit like that on my radar 😜 do not wanna be caught slipping. Hope u got that caffeine but make sure you drink water too❤️❤️! Bye bye 👋
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salty-says · 3 months
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Zosan Drabble [Pt. 1]
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Synopsis: Zoro and Sanji are at a bar on an island when a weird lookin guy who has some interesting Devil fruit powers comes across the high bounty pirates. As they are kicked out of the bar for fighting a strange beam of light emits and suddenly there is a green haired toddler with spiral eyebrows crying right in front of their feet.
“Stupid Marimo! How dare you not buy that lady a drink!” Sanji stomped on Zoro’s foot.
“Hah? What the hell is wrong with you cook?!” Zoro quirked his eyebrow in confusion.
Sanji only furrowed his brows with anger and crossed his arms, “You are too stupid to realize she was flirting with you? Can’t believe she was, but at least you could get her a drink!”
Zoro stared at him with confusion in his brows, “why would I? I didn’t have any interest in her.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. You’re too dumb to see true beauty even when it’s right in front of you,” Sanji huffed as he took a sip of his drink and stared at Zoro.
Zoro flushed slightly and stared into Sanji’s eye, “I know when I see beauty in front of me..” he coughed awkwardly and took a swig of his sake taking his eyes off Sanji, “wasn’t my type anyway.”
Sanji went quiet at this and flushed. He quickly played it off, brushing Zoro and pushing him with his shoulder.
“Oi, you got a problem swirly?”
Sanji cocked his brow, “What did you say, Moss Head couldn’t hear you over the stupid coming from your mouth.”
Zoro put his cup down in the counter and wiped his mouth, walking up to Sanji and pushing him. Sanji scoffed and responded with a kick to Zoro’s chest in which Zoro caught it.
Soon enough a scuffle between the two broke out and the bartender kicked them through the doors and they landed on the cobblestone harshly.
“Look what you did moss head!” Sanji brushed himself off and standing up and lighting a cigarette.
Zoro grunted on the ground and huffed. “You started it asshole.”
Sanji grunted and bent down to kick Zoro’s head lightly, “Get up.”
“Nah.”
“Fine then,” Sanji rolled his eyes and stood back up taking a drag.
Suddenly behind them came a maniacal laugh. “Roronoa Zoro, and Blackleg Sanji.”
Sanji turned around to the voice and Zoro got up and crossed his arms. “Can I help you?” Sanji asked bored.
The man walked forward and a smirk emerged on his face, “I know I am too weak to take any of you down. So now I shall hinder you and your crew’s journey.”
Zoro and Sanji cocked their heads in confusion when all of the sudden a bright white light began to emit from his hands and the light struck Zoro and Sanji making their bodies tingle.
As the light struck him Zoro grimaced and reaches for Wado but decided against drawing it as the light could not be cut, “What the hell.”
Sanji tried to deflect the light with his foot but it only went through it and continued to overtake his body.
Eventually the light vanished. Zoro and Sanji were left blinded and their eyes were struggling to re adjust to the darkness.
Zoro tried searching for the man but his figure had seemed to disappear. As he looked around his ear perked up at the sound of a child wailing.
Sanji’s heart clenched at the pitiful sound as his eyes were able to make out a small figure sitting on the cobblestone trembling. He bent down trying to focus his vision better and he gasped when he saw a young girl crying. Immediately he picked her up in his arms and held her close to his body trying to calm her down.
“Are you alright? Did that man hurt you at all?” Sanji asked setting her down on a crate under the streetlight. He crouched down in front of her to be on her level, darkness shrouded his form. The child shook her head “no” as she wiped her tears from her eyes. She looked no more than 7.
Zoro stood behind Sanji looking at the abnormal features of the child. She had medium length green hair an oddly exact color resemblance to Zoro’s. His eyebrows furrowed as he noticed the familiar oddly shaped eyebrows.
“Oi cook, kid’s got your eyebrows,” he snorted.
Sanji was about to retort before he examined her features. His eyes lit up in shock as he saw the same curly brows that adorned him to be on her face. He then softly reached his hand out in front of her to push her green bangs behind her ear to find another one. The girl looked up at him and Sanji gasped. She had a blue eye just like his and another that was dark as Zoro’s.
“W-What’s your name sweetheart?” Sanji asked calmly.
The girl wiped at her cheeks a bit more before her weak voice spoke, “S-Sora.”
This was what caused Sanji’s heart rate to sky rocket and his cigarette to drop to the ground as his mouth hung open. Zoro watched Sanji in confusion as he looked between him and the girl.
Tears pricked at Sanji’s eyes as he looked at the girl. “That’s….that’s a beautiful name,” he finished with a sad smile.
She sniffled, “M-My daddy says he named me after his mommy.”
Sanji looked up her in confusion and sadness, “That’s strange. That was my mothers name too.” Sanji leaned his head into the light at he tried to scan the girl for any cuts or bruises and when he did so he heard the girl gasp loudly. “Daddy!?”
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deathmetalunicorn1 · 8 months
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One Piece x Record of Ragnarok
The One Piece world is the far future of Earth and Luffy is chosen as a champion to face off against Apollo. Why? Because Nika and I find the potential reactions of the gods to be hilarious when they learn that Luffy is pretty much a god who is toon force personified
-It wasn’t hard to convince Luffy, who came to Valhalla in his prime, right after he discovered that his Devil Fruit wasn’t the Gum-Gum Fruit, but the Sun God Nika Fruit, to fight in Ragnarok. Brunnhilde told him that a feast would be prepared after he won his fight and showed him a video of the food being prepared.
-Brunnhilde herself was going to be his partner, telling him, “My Volundr with you will allow you to remain in your Nika form with no repercussions or strain on your body.”
-Luffy was sparkly-eyed at this, thinking it was going to be so cool to fight with no limitations, wanting to really try out his skills.
-Brunnhilde had no issues tricking him, “But the longer the fight, the longer you’ll have to wait for your food, and it might get cold~” Luffy was almost instantly fired up, lifting his fists to the sky, “I’m not gonna make my meat wait for me!!!”
-Apollo was annoyed his opponent was a pirate, the Pirate King at one point, but nevertheless, a pirate, finding it a poor choice against a god like him.
-Luffy walked out with a meat stick, something Brunnhilde gave him for some motivation to get started, giving him a tease of a taste of the feast that awaited him.
-Apollo sneered down at him, “Really? This is the best humanity could do?” Luffy swallowed, looking a bit confused, “Huh? Who are you?”
-The outrage from the side of the gods, especially from Apollo, was very loud, many were stunned to learn that Luffy had no idea who Apollo was!!
-Apollo glared hard, pointing a finger at him, “You dare ask such a question?! Have you been living under a rock?! I’m the sun god Apollo! The pinnacle of perfection!!”
-Luffy ate the rest of the meat stick in one bite, pulling the bone out after stretching his mouth with ease, stunning Apollo with his bad manners before he grinned brightly, spreading his legs, “Apollo huh? Never heard of you!”
-Apollo was quick to launch an attack, furious at this disrespect from Luffy who seemingly disappeared as he leapt up with ease before kicking the sun god away, stunning everyone with his combat skills with his Devil Fruit abilities.
-Brunnhilde appeared next to Luffy in spirit form, speaking to him, “I’m ready on my side. Remember- the sooner you beat him, the sooner you get to eat to your heart’s content!”
-Luffy punched his fists together before inhaling deeply and energy and power seemed to explode from him, creating a whirlwind, one that nearly took Apollo off his feet.
-Laughter quickly filled the stadium as Luffy appeared high in the sky above, his appearance now drastically different with snow white hair that looked like fluffy clouds.
-Jaws were dropped all around the stadium, many not completely sure what was happening before Heimdall shouted out, “That’s- that’s the Sun God Nika!!” the crowds were instantly alight with cheers and shouts, seeing that a human had a god like ability.
-Apollo believed that this was just for show, instantly going on the attack, “This arena only has room for one sun god!!” Luffy took the punch full force, and his head went back into a nearby wall, with everything else remaining still in front of Apollo, not bothered.
-Like a serpent, Luffy’s head was quick to come back, spiraling around Apollo who was horrified, “What is this?!” Luffy just laughed loudly, having fun.
-Gods were horrified to see how easily Luffy was handling Apollo, bouncing his ass like a basketball… literally, smushing the god into a ball shape and playing around with him.
-Some, like Buddha and Loki were nearly falling over each other, laughing loudly, as Apollo had been talking so much smack leading up to the match.
-Ares and Hermes were conflicted, on one side they found it hysterical, thinking it was amazing Apollo was being put in his place, but at the same time, they, along with many others, were intimidated by Luffy’s power, seeing him as someone very dangerous.
-Luffy was announced the winner in the quickest match of Ragnarok and once he was announced he returned to normal, feeling completely fine before Brunnhilde came apart from him.
-He held her hand like a child, “Bruu-chan! Meat!!” her eyelid twitched, making a mental note to smack Buddha the next time she saw him as she nodded, “Yes-yes, come with me. It should be being brought into your room now.” He cheered loudly, leaping up and everyone was stunned, seeing how simple he was, fighting so he could eat.
-On the way he ran into Kojiro who had been watching the fight up close on a balcony and Luffy beamed, “Double sword guy!!” Kojiro laughed warmly, greeting Luffy and Brunnhilde couldn’t help but smile, seeing how easily these two got along, but then again, Luffy seemed to make friends everywhere.
-When Brunnhilde arrived back to his room several hours later with more food, she was stunned to see Ares, Kojiro, Jack, Buddha, most of the Valkyries, Shiva and his wives, and Loki all enjoying the feast with Luffy, turning into a celebration party.
-She couldn’t help but smile as Luffy cheered when she came in with more food and many of the others cheered as well, greeting her.
-She declined to stay, as she was preparing for the next match, but thanked Luffy before walking by Buddha and left him with several large steaming lumps on his head which he only snickered at, finding Brunnhilde’s reaction to Luffy using her nickname hysterical.
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still-the-seventh · 6 months
Text
Every mention of Izzy or Con in OFMD Season 2 Reviews (so far)
Under the cut
[mostly spoiler free - there's one bit which refers to a released sneak peak from S2E1, which is more spoilery, with quotes of dialogue.]
First mate Izzy also has a very meaty storyline that O'Neill imbues with a lot of pathos and wisdom. His scenes of counsel with both Stede and Ed are some of the best of the season, and they add more humanity to the gruff seaman.
First mate Izzy Hands (Con O’Neill) now has to reckon with having poured jet fuel on an emotional bonfire, and the result is an Emmy-worthy performance taking Hands on a turbulent and transformative journey few could have seen coming last season.
The second season starts by showing us our two heroes at their lowest. Stede, alone, broke, and absolutely obsessed with getting back to Ed, and Blackbeard snorting coke, drinking heavily, and destroying the only stable relationship he has left–the one between him and his first mate Izzy Hands (Con O’Neill).
Izzy Hands becomes a stronger presence, and while he remains the constant punching bag for Ed and the rest of the crew, this time he gets in a few good hits himself. His B-Plot this season is really what ties the season together in a cohesive way, acting as a bridge between Ed and Stede as they fail to communicate in ways that the other can understand.
In the sneak peek, below, times are tense for Frenchie (Joel Fry), Jim (Vico Ortiz), Fang (David Fane), and the newest member of the team, Archie (Madeleine Sami), as they observe Blackbeard’s second in command, Izzy Hands (Con O’Neill). As seen in the minute-and-a-half exchange, Izzy’s getting testy with the shipmates when they question orders to throw treasure overboard. “It is not your place to tell me what does or does not make sense. It is your job to follow my f**king orders,” Izzy spits, emotion welling in his makeup-darkened eyes.
Fang is the first to note that Izzy doesn’t seem to be doing fine, and Jim steps forward to add, “Yeah, we think you’re in an unhealthy relationship with Blackbeard.” Additional tidbits from the crew include the fact that Blackbeard does “a lot of rhino horn” and he’s cut off more of Izzy’s toes.
In other words, Ed’s downward spiral is wreaking havoc on Izzy and the rest of the gang. But depending on how you feel about certain pirate looks, their exterior makeovers are sure to excite, regardless of the reasoning behind them.
And when it comes to Izzy, he’s not changing things too much. “He’s just a man of his own. He wouldn’t really listen to Blackbeard,” Taylor says. “So there were very subtle things [that we were going to do], like adding studs to his gloves so that when he beat up people, it was a little bit more violent. But in the end, we took it away. He’s enough of a badass on his own.” Ultimately, the only real change people will see on Izzy went the show returns is, “He got a bit dirtier from being at sea. We broke him down more, added a bit more sort of salt and all those crusty sort of overlays.”
Blackbeard embarks on a nautical rampage. His behavior even alarms other hardened pirates — including his cynical sidekick Izzy Hands, played to the hilt by an entertainingly acidic Con O'Neill.
Invested in maintaining his captain's badass reputation, Izzy originally saw Stede as a frivolous idiot who seduced Blackbeard away from his true calling. Now Izzy takes an unexpected leaf out of Stede's book, trying to mediate Blackbeard's post-breakup meltdown.
"The atmosphere on this ship is completely poisoned," Izzy says at one point. Last season, he probably would have thought that was a good thing.
Con O’Neill continues to be the cast’s secret weapon as Izzy Hands, who finds his own growth this season. Their captains’ romance may be stuck in arrested development, but the supporting cast really shines.
Tackling an equally upgraded storyline is Con O'Neill’s Izzy Hands. A scene stealer in season one, he’s now one of the most compelling characters in this cast of pirate misfits, and you won’t be able to get a show-stopping musical moment from one of the later episodes out of your head.
The crew is haunted by their actions, as Izzy tries and fails to speak to any lingering humanity Blackbeard possesses, with the latter succumbing to near-suicidal pursuits.
Ortiz is allowed a greater level of playfulness as Jim, demonstrating a commanding screen presence, while O’Neill might be the series’ greatest secret weapon as Izzy, with some of the most poignant moments of the series.
The joyful playfulness of Stede’s crew is immediately tempered by just how much Blackbeard doesn’t want to live anymore. He has a total disregard for his life and the lives of everyone around him. It even makes you want to cry a bit for Izzy Hands (Con O’Neill), which after the role he played at the end of last season is a bit of a shocker.
The entire cast kills it once again, and I just want to give a special shout-out to Con O’Neill because as someone who saw no redeeming qualities in Izzy Hands in Season 1, I actually kind of like him now.
This season, it was hard to pull my attention away from Con O’Neill, who plays the enigmatic first mate to Blackbeard, Izzy Hands. Izzy and Con became fan favorites in season 1 despite Izzy’s betrayal of Ed, and anyone who doesn’t already love him won’t be able to hold out for long. There is a deep, emotional complexity to Izzy’s role this season that is an undertaking for any performer — O’Neill takes it in stride.
Waititi’s Ed is consumed by self-loathing (a recurring theme throughout Season Two) and excises that pain onto his half of the Revenge’s crew—Izzy (Con O’Neill), Jim, and Fang spend Season Two reeling from the cruelties he inflicts on them as a result of his inner pain. Though Jim’s story ends up veering into more romantic territory (especially once Oluwande re-enters the picture having gotten chummy with a Season Two newcomer), Izzy spends the season struggling to cope with his feelings for Ed and loyalty as first mate—what his fellow crew members solemnly tell him is a “toxic relationship.”
The series furthers its season-one positioning of Ed as a bad boss who undervalues his employees, especially first mate Izzy (scene-stealer Con O’Neill, whose accent has somehow gotten even more wonderfully gravelly). The latter path’s transposing of office-culture issues onto the Revenge leads to the season’s most humorous stuff, like the crew planning a holiday party, being interviewed by another pirate captain who offers them better benefits, and scoffing their way through a tone-deaf apology from a higher-up.
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iamadequate1717 · 5 months
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The Breakups
Stede and Ed have three breakups under their belt right now: Ed initiated two of them, and Stede is currently getting blame for one of those. The finale is releasing tomorrow, so hopefully this turns into a moot point, but I'm defending Stede anyway!
Part 2: The Breakups
Note that Part 1 is here:
This 2x7 breakup is likely to be over in 2x8 (.... I say less than 24 hours to the premier and trying to act like I'm a prophet...), and with rule of three, I'm going to say that's going to be their last one. Any more Will-They-Or-Won't-They would be tedious, especially since at that point, we'd be at about one-third of the series with them "broken up," and they need to start communicating as a couple already, but this oscillation is what makes OFMD unique isn't it?
Their breakups are about them as characters: the first time, Ed leaves with Calico Jack; Ed realizes his devotion to Stede but Stede has his fears confirmed... which rolls into the second breakup (Stede doesn't have those fears resolved early enough, and Ed feels like a discarded plaything), which rolls into the third. They need to address the fears and insecurities together and not spiral out on their own. I'm guessing (and using what HBO has shown us) that Ed gets his assurances early, and hopefully, we can put an end to this internal catastrophizing so they can face the world together.
Love, the emotion, may be easy, just like breathing, but a couple is still two people with different experiences and different needs, but real life relationships take work (...I say as a happy single person...). Romcoms end with the First Kiss, fanfics end with the First Sex, but OFMD seems to be carrying us through the growing pains of the relationship. Happily Ever After isn't a magical state that is achieved once you tell each other that you love the other, but so many pieces of media treat that as the end, but OFMD is treating it as a middle. Often times, it feels like the couple is just playing musical chairs, and if they're a couple when time runs out, they're going to be a couple forever!
In S2 speculation, it was not infrequent that people were imagining that the S2 cliffhanger would be Ed and Stede laying eyes on each other for the first time with a fade to black. That isn't interesting. We don't want these two to run out the clock.
But I want to look at the breakups specifically. Let's look at 2x7. Spanish Jackie lays down the truth to Ed, but he doesn't seem to latch onto the big point: does Stede know that this regular guy, no more pirate, part isn't a phase?
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"He said at the academy..." Stede was dealing with other things, and from what he saw, Ed went back to piracy. To be fair also, the Revenge doesn't do much piracy itself, so Stede hasn't seen Ed's dissatisfaction first hand. A lot of audience anger toward Stede is an audience who saw the environment 2x1 and 2x2, who saw Ed in the gravy basket, who saw Ed's bored asides with Izzy. They're treating Stede as a member of the audience rather than as a character within the story. Stede didn't see any of this. Most of his interactions with Ed was cutesy fluff. Stede knows he likes being near Ed, but they haven't spent much time talking about deeper topics.
On what Ed does with the breakup in 2x7, I'm bringing up this line from 2x4, when they briefly spoke like adults:
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Ed shutting down the conversation and not letting Stede give explanations isn't fair to Stede, but it continued with the third breakup: in 2x7, Ed leaves Stede with some emotional whiplash. Stede was just having one of the best days of his life and was met with an Ed who refused to explain what was going on. When you look at what just Stede saw, it was utterly baffling! My post on that:
And then Stede insulted Ed's fish, thereby making him History's Greatest Monster, amiright?
Ed basically screams that fishermen and pirates are so different, it would be like if a mermaid and a bird tried to have a marriage. It's a self fulfilling prophecy at that point: cut Stede out completely so they have no chance to grow their lives with room for the romantic relationship. (And really, for those criticizing Stede, how do you respond correctly off the cuff to a random statement like that?)
This is devastating: Stede has completely cut himself out of his old life. He left Barbados for Ed, not for piracy. He laid out his feelings, and he made himself vulnerable to Ed. Just hours after being intimate for the first time, he's coldly told it was a mistake, and his sad face at that statement:
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He doesn't run off in tears to have a breakdown like I would! He instead is reasonable with Ed: they can define their relationship however they want, but Ed cuts off any possibility of any relationship.
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Stede does not know what's going on. I'm really confused what people who are "so mad!" at Stede here would expect of him, provided they only know what Stede knows in universe. Stede just wants to talk and work on their relationship together. Ed wants to start a new career, and more specifically, a life completely separate from Stede.
No, Stede doesn't respond to that pirate line, but he gave the immediate response to the part he cared about more (and likely replayed the conversation over and over in his head later with improved responses, as we do).
Stede does not run after Ed here, but why would he? He's told the audience directly that he thinks Ed is better off without him.
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Lucius tells him, "Maybe the time he spent with you is the best it's ever going to get for him," and again, Stede directly tells the audience that he doesn't believe that.
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This is not a man with high self esteem. Remember him being ready to be executed and being told he's the worst pirate captain ever? He thought that was fair.
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Ed cuts off their relationship, and Stede thinks he deserves that, that Ed realized he was better off without Stede. So Stede lets him go.
On their breakups, the first one was short (Ed's back the same episode!), but the second happened at a season break so there was more time for fandom speculation. We all saw the theories, and a too common thread was "Will Ed forgive Stede??", and we saw the speculation that Stede should prostrate himself before Ed and beg for forgiveness, no matter how long it took. It simplifies the narrative, but is that the show we're watching and is that fair to Stede?
Stede instantly forgave Ed after choosing Calico Jack over him in front of everyone; the second breakup was longer and they had more time to do the whole negative self talk thing, but Stede still did deserve more grace, didn't he? With Season 2 (and its truncated run time!), we saw the criticisms that Ed forgave Stede too easily, but did he? They're on friendly terms, but there is still a wall.
See Ed's time in the Gravy Basket. The first three episodes were the Soup Show. It symbolized family or warmth or whatever (...I say as a robot who doesn't understand human feelings...), so it's a standout that Ed calling the soup poison is his feelings about accepting that warm domesticity, not something literal about Hornigold. He opened himself up to someone, and all he got was heartbreak and confirmation he was unlovable (and he was too scared to do anything about it).
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And this is followed almost immediately by the baller line about a man being brought down in the place where he had definitely chosen Stede for the first time.
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In the Gravy Basket, we had the metaphor on the feet (no shoes = death, shoes = life... there is good meta running around, but I'm too lazy to find it). Ed gains one shoe (putting him between life and death) when Stede starts to be led to his body, and Stede brings life to him (shoe shot!).
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Stede is an anchor to life at this low point, but that doesn't mean that Ed completely forgives.
In Season 2, we don't have the Gloves as Metaphor with Ed anymore (half gloves when he meets Stede, no gloves at the academy, full gloves when he goes full kraken), but he still has other cues on how his feeling about Stede. We don't have the casual touches of Season 1, and everything feels "off." We're lacking in the tenderness, and Ed still is keeping his distance.
Ed and Stede have held hands this season, but not in a romantic way.
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When we get to the romance, Ed doesn't put his hands on Stede's skin/hair like Stede does for him (production stills don't count!). In the third kiss, he pushes Stede's collar up as a barrier.
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With what the audience was invited in for their love scene, Stede is visually more exposed and ready, and Ed is more distanced and closed off (that is NOT to say that Ed wasn't into it...).
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Everything is close to what it should be, but it's not the perfect expression of love exploding across the screen. Something's off. The audience can pick up on it, and Stede, our autistic king, may subconsciously feeling it, but he is taking a lot of it at face value. (They slept together! They're a couple and an unbroken team now!)
On The Sex, is this the first time that Stede has received (verbal) concerns about his welfare in the series? He was told he was a monster, a plague, a defiler of beautiful things, and he's just been trying to live his life with no one refuting that even in a small way.
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Sure, Ed said his fake heads idea didn't suck.
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Sure... uh.... Ed said he wasn't a girl?
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He gets some affirmation, they do something to help them feel alive almost losing each other, and he's intimate for the first time with the man he loves. Everything is going great! But everything instantly flips 180 degrees a few hours later. He's been holding it together well most of the season, even after thinking that Ed is literally dead, and y'all shouldn't judge him for a few mildly harsh words said without thinking. He feels foolish and used and heartbroken, and his bad day has just begun.
I hope I can get some thoughts up on the last part of 2x7 before the finale, but until then, here's some bonus sad face Stede during their first breakup, where Ed broke up with him in front of everyone! Everyone saw it! ("Never left" psh, likely story.)
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How can you not be sad when he's sad??
We'll see what the finale does with them soon. Overall, I'm happy so far with Ed/Stede in Season 2. The rest of it... eh, Lucius/Pete is my happy spot. I'm hoping we get a good Ed/Stede payoff in the finale, and that we get to see more of their growth as a couple in Season 3 (manifesting!). It's rare that a show/movie/book/etc focused on just a romance sticks with the couple after that "finally together!" spot, and I want to see what this writing team does with that settled romance.
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somanyratsinthewalls · 2 months
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Burning Hearts Chapter 4
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Pairing: Law x Straw Hat Zoan Type (named) OC 
Summary: You were teleported across the globe in an instant, away from your crew. Your body was badly broken and beaten, thrust into the harsh landscape of a Northern island. You are discovered by the Heart Pirates and brought back to health. Startled upon waking up in a foreign place with an unfamiliar crew, you are shocked with the news that you’ll be spending two years there. Trafalgar Law, the captain of the Heart Pirates has made a promise to train you, but will it become something more than a mentor relationship?
WC: 2900
TW: Previous mention of abuse and SW against their will. Minors DNI.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 - Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Burning Hearts Chapter 4: Past Lives
— — — 
“Rise and shine Miss Daisy!”
The cheerful words shot through your ears like a bullet and ricocheted around your skull painfully. 
“Uggghhh…” You pull the covers further over your head. The small amount of light coming through your window was still too much for your pounding head. “Five more minutes…” While wallowing under the covers, you realize you didn’t actually see who entered your room. You quickly rip the covers off your head and open your eyes. 
“Aaaah!!” You screamed, startled out of your wits. 
“AAAHHHH!!” The Polar Bear screams back at you, somehow more startled than you were.
“Why are you yelling!?” You furrow your brow angrily.
“Why are you yelling!?!” 
“I just woke up to a fucking bear in my room! I’ve only been conscious for a few days! You can’t expect me to be used to that yet!” 
The bear’s expression relaxes. He straightens himself. 
“That’s fair… Well… The captain had me bring this for you…” The bear handed you a mug and held out his paw to drop something into your other hand. It was two small white pills. 
“What’s this?” Raising an eyebrow. 
“Coffee and aspirin. The captain said you’d have a headache.” 
You grab the coffee and slam the pills into your mouth. As much as you hated to admit he was right, you did have a headache. You finish the coffee in two big gulps and sat the cup down on your windowsill. 
Wait.
Shit. 
The captain. 
Law. 
As the sleep wears off and your mind clears, you start to remember the night before. You had gotten trashed and Law had found you in quite a state on his kitchen floor. He carried you back to bed. You cried. You asked him to stay with you. 
YOU ASKED HIM TO STAY WITH YOU?!
“Uggggh!” You flop backwards into your bed and pull the covers over your head again. “Why did I do that!” You groan again. 
“Um… was the coffee bad? I don’t think I burnt it this time but maybe I-“
“It’s not the coffee, bear guy! I made an ass of myself last night so I’m not training today. Tell your captain it’s off.” You remain under your blanket fort of shame. 
“Bepo.”
“What?” You uncover your face and cock an eyebrow. 
“My name is Bepo.” 
You throw your hands up. 
“Okay?!?!? Bepo, tell your captain I’m not training today.” You turn over on your side towards the window and away from your unwanted visitor. 
The bear chuckles. “Heh heh, oh no, I won’t be telling him that. You will. My captain is a nice guy but once his mind is set on something, there’s no way in hell I’m getting in the way of that. So if you want out, you have to tell him yourself.” The jumpsuit clad polar bear ducks his head through the doorframe to leave. Before disappearing from view, Bepo pops his head back in and calls out to you. 
“And take a shower. You smell like a bartender’s boot.”
You flop onto your stomach and whine pitifully. 
— — 
You slump against the wall of the shower and scrub your scalp. Your mind kept being forcefully dragged back to your embarrassing drunken plea to Law last night. You were brought out of your spiraling thoughts by your stomach contents threatening to make an appearance. You managed to pull yourself together and rinse the shampoo out of your hair. 
After stepping out of the shower, you wrap your body in a towel and make your way towards the vanity mirror. 
Stringy, damp hair plasters your face. You lean forward to inspect yourself further. Your eyes looked sunken in. You must have lost weight… you haven’t hadn’t appetite and the food the Heart Pirates served was less than gourmet. Your lips were cracked, a bruise on the left side of your forehead was yellowing as it finished healing. 
“Gods I look like the fucking dead.” You remark. “No I shouldn’t say that. I’m sure Brook looks way better than I do right now.” 
You sigh. You had none of your toiletries or makeup, just stuck with what Ikkaku was kind enough to share with you. It was sweet of her to offer to share, but she wasn’t as much of a “girly girl” as you were. You pull at the skin on your cheek to peruse your complexion. 
“At least this will be good for my skin…” 
After drying off, you pulled on a pair of leggings and a cropped sweatshirt. You brush out your hair and carefully plait it into a singular long braid. If this had been at home on The Sunny, you would have picked flowers from your garden to weave into your hair… Looking at your plain braid, you felt tears prick at your eyes again. 
No. 
No more crying. You were done crying. You needed to get stronger for your crew. You grab your blades and fasten them one to each hip. After one last look at yourself in the mirror, you push out of the bathroom and head to the exit of the base. 
— —
You open the large metal door of the base and your eyes had to adjust to the natural light. You felt like a deep sea creature breaching the surface of the waves for the first time. As your vision returns you see your new mentor leaning up against the fence that surrounded base. 
Law’s face is expressionless as he turns to face you. He eyes you up and down. 
“Where’s your jumpsuit?” Law asks. 
“Okay let’s start with, ‘Hi.’” You snap back. 
“Um. Hi back. Where’s your jumpsuit?” Law awkwardly responds before repeating his question.
“Where’s your jumpsuit?” You retort. 
“I’m the captain. I don’t have to wear one. The crew does.” 
“And I’m not on your crew.” You cock your head and narrow your eyes. 
Law remains stoic. He holds your gaze for a moment before turning around and walking towards the gate leading out of the complex. 
“Are you coming or not?” He calls without turning his stupid, hat clad head. 
You roll your eyes before trudging after him. 
— —
Law leads you through the forest to a large clearing. The entire walk was mostly silent other than his one request… that you stop humming. You also tripped over a branch and had to pick yourself up, since Law didn’t stop or even turn around when you fell. He muttered something along the lines of “uncoordinated…” and continued walking. The clearing was barren and the terrain was heavily worn. The edges of the area were littered with battered stumps and badly damaged trees. This was obviously where the Heart Pirates sparred. 
Law takes his place across the clearing from you. 
“So? How are we doing this?” You ask. 
“Well, I can’t train you until I assess where you’re already at in terms of skill.” Law unsheathes the large sword from it’s home on his back. “Show me what you’ve got.” 
You nod. You ready your blades and make your attack. You grit your teeth and prepare to strike your target. 
*THUD*
You collide head on with a tree. Where the hell…?
“Ow…” You rub the back of your neck before standing up and dusting yourself off. You reach for your blades but the moment you wrapped your hands around them your body was flung violently into the air. 
“AAaahh!!” 
Your body is whipped towards the center of the clearing and thrown hard down onto the ground. 
“Shit…” you groan. 
“That’s it? I thought the Straw Hats were supposed to be fearsome.” You lift your head and see Law standing above you with one side of his lips curled up into a faint smirk. 
You huff and launch yourself off the ground at your self-important mentor. Your double blades were immediately blocked by Law’s massive sword. You were pressing with all your might and it seemed he was barely breaking a sweat… was he only using one hand? You relinquish against his powerful blade and are blown backwards. 
“You don’t know shit about me.” You spit on the ground. “Or my crew.” You raise your weapons again. 
“I know enough.” Law responds apathetically. 
You hated him. This smug degenerate was belittling not only you, but your whole crew. Where the hell did he get off, berating you after the trauma you’ve experienced? You’re seething with anger. 
You attack again. 
Missed. 
You turn around and launch towards Law again. 
Blocked. 
You scream in frustration. This continues for what seems like an eternity. Your heartbeat is in your ears and you can barely breathe, you’re so exhausted. You drop to your knees. 
“I know you have devil fruit powers but don’t use them.” Law calls from across the clearing. Suddenly in a blue flash he disappears. A pebble tumbles where he previously was. 
“Why?” 
You jump. Law was right behind you. Before you could process his presence, he delivers a blow to your back that bowls you over into the dirt face forward. 
You roll onto your back. What a fucking asshole. You wipe the salty, metallic taste of blood and sweat from your lips. You couldn’t help but chuckle. 
“hah… I thought you knew enough…” You spit up at him. 
“Get up. If you’re already beat then there’s no use in training you. Lost cause.” He walks to the edge of the clearing again and faces you. 
“You’re such a fucking dick.” You chuckle again, head swimming from fatigue. You had to keep going. Luffy asked you to get stronger, so stronger you would get. You certainly wouldn’t give Trafalgar Law, professional prick, the satisfaction of besting you this easily. 
You rise to your feet and pick up your blades. 
“You want to play hard ball? Fine.” You taunt. You were so tired, but you decided you had to go for broke. You use your limited transformative to spread your wings. They were stiff and sore from the previous trauma from your incident, but it almost felt good to use them again. They were jet black with a claw on each wingtip. They were menacing to anyone else, but merely a larger target for your current opponent. 
You’re on him in a second, for the first time catching him off guard, but your blades failed to do any sort of damage on Law’s hardened skin before you’re blown back again. You take no time to launch another attack, determined to make Law eat his words. 
The two of you flitted around the clearing locked in battle, neither of you relenting. You felt your biceps trembling and spasming… it was too much… 
Your arms gave out. Your blades clattered to the dirt. 
*SHHHHNK* 
“I’m not done… I can still- wait-…?” You try to push yourself back up but something isn’t working. You look down to your hip. Your right leg was gone. 
“MY FUCKING LEG? Why isn’t it bleeding? What the fuck? LAW?” You look around in panic to find your adversary. Your eyes don’t find Law, but they find your right leg, casually resting in the dirt 6 yards away.
“Fucking Gods, my leg?!” You scream. 
“Shambles.” 
*WOOOOOSH* 
You feel an uncomfortable *pop* at your hip. Your neck snaps down again to look at your body. Your leg had been seamlessly reattached to your torso as if none of this ever happened. You panic and scramble backwards, away from this sick man. 
“You… you cut my fucking leg off…” You gasp out, still in shock. 
“I let you have it back. A real enemy might not be as generous.” Law moves towards you. 
“You’re fucking sick. You’re a sick mother fucker. You’re fucking crazy. I’m not staying here. I’m leaving. I’m packing my shit and I’m leaving. I don’t care what Luffy said anymore. I can find someone else. You’re insufferable.” You clumsily rise to your feet after having your leg reattached. 
“And where will you go?” Law responds. 
“Anywhere. Anywhere other than here.” You spit. 
“You have no idea where you are, Miss Rito. With those weathered wings there’s no way you could make it more than 10 miles. You’d be dead before you even began.” 
Your heart races in your chest, the familiar feeling of being trapped seeps in. 
In between labored breaths, you huff out…
“I am not your fucking prisoner.” 
You turn away from Law and start to head in the direction of the base camp. 
“How long were you with Grey Jaw?” 
There was a moment so silent you could hear a leaf hit the ground. 
He didn’t really say that, it was another dream, right? Your eyes gazed blankly into the forest before you turned around towards the clearing. 
“What?” You asked. 
“The brand. On your stomach.” Law nodded towards your abdomen. “Grey Jaw’s girls. I’ve seen it before."
“Why… why are you…” You mutter mostly to yourself, but loud enough for Law to hear you. 
“I’ve put some of those girls back together. Literally. I know what he does on that ship.” Law adds. 
“You couldn’t ever fucking know.” You spit back without even thinking. “You couldn’t ever fucking understand what we went through on that ship. That man creates monsters… and when he’s done with them…” You catch a sob in your throat and choke it back down.
“He made you eat it, didn’t he? The Devil Fruit? Kept you there?” Law interjects. 
“You fucking-“ 
You impulsively reach up to smack Law across the face. He grabs your wrist.
Your vision began to turn red, all you could see was Law’s emotionless face above you. His face made your heart swell with anger. How dare he bring up Grey Jaw? He was ignoring your time as an accomplished pirate to focus on the years you spent as as slave aboard Grey Jaw’s maritime brothel. 
“Say it to me again.” You growl out at Law before you lose consciousness. 
— —
“Yes, Captain?” Bepo appears in the door frame of his Captain’s office. 
“Go and fetch Miss Rito if she’s awake. I’d like her in my office as soon as possible.” Law orders his first mate. 
“Aye aye, Captain... Wait, did something happen to your eyebrows? They look burnt...” 
"Nothing happened. Do ask I asked."
As Bepo leaves the office, Law pulls a large textbook off one of his many worn bookshelves and brings it over to his desk. He feels the side of it for his book mark, once finding it he cracks open the tome and leaves it on a certain page. 
Law sits in his desk chair and waits. 
*knock knock*
“You asked for me…?” Daisy reluctantly enters the office. Law hadn’t spoken to her since their training session.
“Yes. Sit.” Law commands as he gestured towards the chair across from his at the desk. 
Daisy sits, clearly uncomfortable. 
“I want you to look at this book.” Law turns the textbook to face Daisy in her seat opposite his. “Tell me which devil fruit you ate.” 
Daisy looks up at him with daggers in her eyes. “I’m not fucking doing this.” She spits. 
“I’m merely asking. I have it down to 2 that might be what you’ve eaten. Look at these.” Law pushes the book adorned with post-it markers towards Daisy. 
Daisy refuses to break eye contact. 
“Wait… what happened to your eyebrows?” Daisy asked, noticing their sudden sparseness. 
“Nothing. Look at the page.” Law impatiently gestures at the book. 
Daisy raises her eyebrows in questions before she lowers her gaze to inspect the textbook. 
“Nope.” Daisy remarks after a few moments. 
“What?” Law furrows his sparse brow and cocks his head. 
“I didn’t eat these. Any of these…” Her eyes scan the rest of the page beyond what Law had bookmarked. 
Law sits up in his chair. 
“… you’re sure…?” Law asks. 
“Obviously. I’m not a fucking idiot. I know what I ate.” Daisy snaps back. 
Law rubs his eyes with a tattooed hand. 
D, E, A, T, H.
“Go to bed. We train again tomorrow.” Law states from his desk. Before he finished rubbing his eyes, Daisy was out the door. 
— —
xx 
Author’s Note: HI THANKS FOR READING! I plan on putting out 2 more chapters this weekend. I know the character’s backstory can be kind of triggering so I want to make sure I put TW’s on the top. Let me know in my DM’s if you’re into the series!
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lovelybrooke · 6 months
Text
I Have to be Dreaming (Chapter 8).
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Series Masterlist~~Regular Masterlist
"...Did Robin really say that, Chopper?" The wind blew all around the pirates, all of them sitting a circle together on the roof of the inn. Chopper nodded at Robin's question; his eyes furrowed under the shade of his hat.
"She said we wouldn't meet again after today, which probably means she's going to do something today that will make matters even worse." Chopper explains the situation with a small voice. Zoro raises his head to look at the reindeer.
"The city's already in an uproar over the failed attempt on the mayor's life. If someone were to make the situation worse, there's only one way to do it." Nami nodded along with the swordman, both of them deadly serious.
"Actually kill the mayor." Nami finished, the hair on the back of her neck standing up, whether due to the cold or the fear in her chest she didn't know. It didn't help that the crew was at its most venerable. With both you and Usopp gone, and now all this with Robin, the rest of the crew was holding onto each other with the last bit of hope they had.
"That would be the natural thing to think." Zoro spoke up again, allowing Robin to break out of her thinking spiral. She looks back over at him, his voice low as she continued to speak. "But now that we know she's trying to pin the crime on us, this might be a trap to lure us to the site." Zoro drones, the wind blowing in a low hum as he reasons. His brows furrow as he stares straight ahead "If they carry out the assassination tonight, and we're spotted at the scene that'll make it easier to lay the crime on us."
Nami gasps, shooting up at the man's statement. "Hang on! When you say it like that, you're assuming Robin's the enemy!" It was clear Nami was in denial about the situation, not wanting to believe that her friend was out to get them.
Zoro shrugs, staring at Nami coldly. "We're talking about possibilities here. I'm not leaning either way." Zoro moves a hand towards his side, near his swords. A small clicking sound is heard, causing Nami to flinch slightly and calm down. "Do we believe her? Do we doubt her? If we start leaning one way, and the truth turns out to be the other we won't be prepared."
Zoro finally looks over at his captain, who looked just as stern. "If they're going to do it, they'll do it tonight. Do we go to the site?"
Luffy nods, finally breaking the silence. "We go."
Nami looks confused, shaking her head. "I don't mind if we go, but there's on other thing that's bothering me. Sanji says he saw Robin walking with someone, remember?" The wind blew as she spoke. "Mayor Iceberg said the thing. Someone who was wearing a mask, that wasn't one of us. The person might be behind the sudden change in Robin." She explained, her voice raising as the wind grew stronger.
"You think he's making her do something bad?! Robin...!!" Chopper gaped, looking in between Zoro and Nami.
"That's the best-case scenario." Zoro reasoned; his arms crossed. "If the guy and Robin are actual comrades, it's the worst-case scenario."
"The masked person could be anyone. Then what's our objective?" Nami asked her captain, who didn't wait a second answering.
"To catch Robin!" Luffy stood up, holding onto his hat. "We won't figure out anything until then." Nami nodded.
"You're right." She spoke. "Just sitting here thinking is a waste of time."
"But..." Zoro scratched his head, his forehead scrunched as he thought. "Come to think of it, the World Government has been trying to catch her for 20 years, and they still haven't."
Nami nodded. "But if we want to know the truth, that's the only thing we can do." She reasoned.
Chopper nodded, fear evident in his face. "Alright! I'll do my best too!"
Luffy nodded, his expression still just as calm. The wind continued to grow, billowing as they moved to find their friend.
---
Usopp didn't know where you were, and it was scaring him. It scared him more than the storm that was threatening the city. It scared him more than losing Merry. It scared him more than fighting Luffy.
Why didn't you tell him? What if something happened to you? He knew he was gone for a while, but...but you should've at least told him something.
Usopp attempts to push you to the back of his mind as he hands a man a handful of berries. "Please! All the lumber I can buy with this, and also tar and robe." He begs. "And nails and hasps. And a little tin." He adds, the man shaking his head with sympathy.
"Look, I wish I could help, but we're closed." Usopp sighs, his shoulders deflating.
"I know. I'm sorry but..."
The man groans. "Tch! Alright, already! But you'll need more money to buy all that!' Usopp nods, rummaging through his bag, finding nothing up tools.
"Then I'll make up the difference by, uh, trading you tools..." The man shook his head, backing away slightly.
"Hey, now, quit talking crazy. I only sell stuff." He huffs. "Barter? What are you, a country bumpkin?" Usopp sigh, putting a hand on his stomach when it growls, watching the man rush into the shop to grab lumber.
---
Usopp grunts as he hulls the lumber down the street, the man watching him with pity. "You sure you're, okay? Now that I'm looking, you're pretty banged up." Usopp doesn't answer, crashing to the ground only a few steps down the street. "You have friends, don't you? Make them do the shopping!"
Usopp huffed, trying his best to pile the wood back together. He groans, did he have friends? It made him want to laugh. He thought of the crew, he thought of you. He thought of how they abandoned him, how you abandoned him. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't be mad, at least not at you.
"I'm fine." Usopp finally spoke, his stomach grumbling more and more as he moved. The man took a few steps, shoving a rice ball in Usopp's face.
"Here. Take some Rice balls. You must be hungry." Usopp quickly takes them, bowing towards the man.
"Th-thank you." The man nods, waving towards Usopp.
---
The sniper kicks his feet as he chomps on the rice balls. He hums, taking a final big bite, looking up at Merry. He smiles. "Don't you worry, it'll be fine!" He grabs his tools and materials, his brows furrowed in concentration. "You're a ship that has flown in the sky!"
Usopp hammers away as he thinks of you, and where you could be, and where he could take you once Merry is fixed.
---
Robin stands on the top of a building, overlooking the mayors home. It was covered in volunteers, all watching the house in case the assassin comes back. The wind bellows, accompanying the dark night which keeps her and her associate hidden.
"Everyone read?" A voice from the transporter snail askes, her associate, who was covering his face with a large bear mask.
"Ready, Nico Robin?" They ask as she covers her face with a hood.
"Yes, anytime." There's some noise heard though the transporter snail.
"Then I'm going to create a distraction. The four of you will carry out your assignments as soon as you see the signal."
In an instant, a large explosion goes off in front of the mayor's home, blowing away the guards closest to the home. There is yelling heard, gasping as groans of pain, Robin ignores it all. "Quite the flashy signal." She doesn't respond. "Here we go."
Someone in disguise plows through the crowd of people, the fighting being heard all the way in Iceberg's room. The disguised intruder shoots a whip towards the roof, being met with a group of people ready for a fight.
Robin and the other descend from their position, rushing towards the home. "You've memorized the layout of the mansion, haven't you, Nico Robin?" She nods. The continue running as the commotion plays out, before becoming face to face with a wall. Not before long, they became surrounded by a crowd.
"We've got you surrounded, pirates!! You can't escape this time! Give yourselves up!!" The pointed their guns at the two, before Robin's partner held up their coat and they disappeared. Suddenly, the two were inside the house, in a dark hallway that seemed to span on forever.
Robin walked up to the wall, placing her hand in the middle. "It's on the other side of this wall."
"Good." The man placed his back against the wall. "Now push." She did just that, pushing the man and creating a hole through the wall they both could step through. Turning around, they were met with a terrified Iceberg.
"You startled me. I knew you'd come. But never from there. Did you use the same means as yesterday?" Iceberg questioned as a gun pointed towards him.
"It's the power of the door-door fruit." The man explained with a click of the gun. He didn't explain more as a bullet rippled through his chest. Iceberg fell over in pain, gripping his wound as Robin looked at her partner confused.
"What are you--there hasn't been a signal yet."
"He isn't harmless if he has the energy to talk. Just as famous chefs are careful to prepare their ingredients in advance." They explain ominously. "So, it's only professional of us to restrain him and keep him from acting against us unexpectedly before the signal." Iceberg falls to the ground, blood covering the floor.
"Is that...the CP9 way?!" Iceberg groans, the large, masked person staring down at him.
"Good guess. You're right." Iceberg groans louder.
"I've done something terrible to the strawhat boy. He wasn't part of this, was he?" Robin lowers her head, pushing the crew--her friends to the back of her head.
"It's nothing to concern yourself over." She explains. "You just said you saw me last night, which was true."
"That was...part of your strategy too?" Iceberg questions.
"Correct. We let you live yesterday so the blame would fall on the pirates. Besides, if we had killed you sooner, we wouldn't have found out where you had hidden the blueprints for a certain ship." The mask person explains. "For generations, they have been passed down from shipwright to shipwright. Handed down secretly from master to apprentice. If you felt that your life was in danger, you would undoubtedly have tried to entrust the plans to someone."
Iceberg sighs, he sent Paulie to retrieve said blueprints from his office not too long ago. No doubly he has been found and is in danger. Iceberg slowly moves, sitting up near his bed. "So, you mean everything is going...according to your plan."
The mask person walks over to the door as Robin stares down at Iceberg. "I'll take care of the shipwrights outside the door so that we can finish without a hitch. I'll leave you to finish him."
They walk out of the door, and the room is silent. All that can be heard is huffs from Iceberg and the low sounds of fighting from outside. It can be assumed that the strawhats were on the way right now, trying to clear their name. It's only a matter of time until they would catch up to them.
"Oh my...this is certainly a surprise. Honesty, I never dreamed we'd be meeting here, Nico Robin." Iceberg speaks to the surprise of Robin.
"...Have we met before?" Robin asks.
"Last night was the first time, but I've always wanted to meet you." Robin's eyes widen slightly in shock as Iceberg begins to cough out more blood. In her confusion, she pulls out a gun from her cloak, Iceberg pulling out his own in response.
"So, you could kill me?" Robin's voice was cold, but there was clearly a sense of fear behind it.
"That's right." Iceberg huffs. "Before you destroy the whole world!!" Robin barely moves as Iceberg sweats, snarling at the woman. "Since antiquity, searching for, researching, and decoding the ponegliffs has been classified by the government as a global high crime. You must know that!!" He yells.
"How do you know about the ponegliffs?" Robin yells, her voice hoarse.
"Simply knowing of their existence isn't a crime. But in all likelihood, the only person in the world now who can decipher the writing...is you."
"that's precisely why the Government put such a high bounty on your head even though, at the time, you were only an 8-year-old girl." He said, Robin flinching slightly at the memory. "In all the world, you're the only one. The only person who can reactivate the ancient weapons."
Robin tilts her head, more of her face being shown. "You even know about the weapons."
"So CP6 was an actual organization. That means you've already left the strawhats pirates and are working for the Government, doesn't it? A strange move for a woman said to have been relentlessly pursued by the Government but that's nothing to do with me. If, through the decoding of the ponegliffs, the weapon is reactivated it won't matter if the one who possesses it is just or evil."
Iceberg clicks the gun, shaking a bit in his hand. "The result will be the same. You can't expect weapons to bring peace to the world of mankind." Robin's face doesn't convey anything, her emotions unchanging. "The whole world will be destroyed."
"The evils of the past should not be reawakened!" Icebergs yells again.
Robin breathes out, her eyes softening. "You're right. I think that myself, but you're way out of line! You don't know me at all. You have no right to tell me how I should research history!" She speaks in low voice, staring directly at Iceberg.
"That's not true. In a way I'm in the same position you are." Robin tilter her head. "I hold blueprints for a weapon of the ancient world, the Pluton!"
"The blueprints for a weapon." Robins hold on the weapon becomes tighter as she shakes.
"Pluton is the name of a battleship that was built on this Island a longtime ago." Robin calms, her face beading with sweat. "The weapon they made was too powerful. The ancient shipbuilding engineers though that an opposing force would be needed in the unlikely event that it went out of control. So, they passed the blueprints down through the generations. The government wants them." He explains carefully.
"And they ended up going to extreme measures to get them. To think you're helping without knowing that---that's shocking." He lets out a dry laugh. "Tom, the man who entrusted the blueprints to me aways worried about a lone girl who'd escape from the Ohara incident 20 years ago."
"He thought she was a threat, despite her age, because she shared ideas of the demons of Ohara. So, out of consideration for the weapon's makers, it's my duty to stop you." Iceberg slowly stood, wobbling slightly in clear pain. "Because there's still a chance you might find a way to reactivate the weapon!!"
Robin activated her devil fruit power, wrapping arms around the man, immobilizing him and causing him to fall to the ground, blood spurting out of his mouth as hands gripped his chin and throat. She quickly moved the gun closer to his head, the barrel resting right up against his forehead, in between his eyes. "Is that all you want to say before you die?" She snarls." Even if you had killed him your blueprints would've been stolen, and the result the same."
Iceberg huffs, closing his eyes. "Then, just, let me say one more thing." She huffs more, but his face was calm. "You're the ones who've fallen for my ruse." As he spoke, the ringing of a transporter snail could be heard. Robin stood, pulling the snail out of a pocket in her cloak. "It's me." The voice said. "There's been a hitch in the plan. All members report to the bedroom at once. Whatever you do, do not shoot Iceberg yet."
The room was deadly silent, the wind blowing right outside. Robin doesn't look away from Iceberg as more masked people enter into the room. "Go home!" He yells. "There's nothing to hand over."
"Then we have a problem." One of them, the one with a bull mask, speak. They take off the mask slowly, as a pigeon lands on their shoulder. "What should I tell first to a dying man?"
"What--Lucci?!" Iceberg gawks as he comes face to face with his now former friend. Another takes off a mask, this one a giant skill. It was Kaku.
"None of this would have happened if you'd handed them over to the Government when it asked nicely." He spoke, referring to the blueprints.
"We wanted to leave town without hurting you if we could." Kalifa shakes her head, her long hair falling out of her mask. She puts her glasses on, staring down the mayor.
"Did you also get your stubborn streak from your master?" Finally, Robin's partner took off their mask. It was a bar owner, Blueno. Iceberg couldn't believe his eyes. All of his friends, all of the people he trusted the most, these were the ones who would betray him.
"You just have to go and make things difficult." Lucci droned. "Where are the blueprints of the ancient weapon? Tell us now before more innocent people are harmed.
Robin didn't listen as Lucci droned on, arguing with Iceberg. The words are drowned out as she allows for a small moment of distraction. Her mouth opens just a small bit as she thinks of her crewmates. She thinks of Luffy saving her, letting her join his crew after everything with Crocodile. She thinks of traveling to the Sky Island, exploring the forest, and not fearing for her life.
She thinks of eating warm meal, laughing with her crew, reading as she listens to the waves. And for a moment, she thinks of you. She thinks of your fear at the beginning, which soon turned into acceptance, then to bravery. She thinks of your laugh, often accompanied with Luffy's. But most of all, she thinks of her regret, pooling into the bottom of her stomach as she realizes she doesn't know you. She never got to know you, to laugh with you, to experience all ranges of emotions with you.
She thinks of freedom, friendship, happiness, and how stupid she was to think she finally achieved it.
"...If you reactivate the weapon the world will fight for control of that power and the damage will only be greater!" She was torn from her thought by Icebergs yelling. Lucci just tilts his head at the man.
"You seem to mistrust the Government, mayor Iceberg." Lucci accuses.
"I just know human nature boy." Iceberg responds. Lucci sends a kick towards Iceberg, slamming him into the ground.
"Watch your tongue. You're not my boss anymore." Lucci looks down at the man. "Kaku." He doesn't look away, Iceberg groaning in pain. "Check his pulse." Kaku moves towards Iceberg, grasping hi wrist to check his pulse. It was low, but present.
"Mayor Iceberg, to tell the truth, a short while ago we came up with a theory. All you have to do is listen. I'm sure your pulse will tell us the truth." Lucci moves closer towards the groaning man. "We assume you no longer have the blueprints, do you?" He doesn't get a response. "Of course, we have to physical proof. Even in the last five years we've spent observing you, nothing in your actions indicated that you'd picked a successor."
"Now, you wanted us to take the fake blueprints, and if you look closely the names of the designers are written on them. Tom. Iceberg. Cutty Flam. And finally, the company's name--Tom's workers." Iceberg shifts slightly as the mention. "You planned to outwit your enemy with these fakes, but you never dreamed that your enemy would be lurking close by. That was a miscalculation."
"It was no easy task finding out that you had been one of Tom's apprentices. According to recent reports from the Government, Tom had only two apprentices. A Government agent confirmed that one of them died in an accident eight years ago."
Lucci raises his hands his mock confusion, eying the mayor. "However, we have the right to assume that he's alive. Even now here in this town and he's changed his name to Franky!"
Icebergs pulse races, Kaku's grip on him tight as he looks towards Lucci. "Seem there's no mistake. Who'd though you and he had that connection."
"No matter how much we investigated Franky, we weren't able to uncover his background. We ignored him since he was a dismantler and a swaggering oaf." He laughs. "Your earlier boldness can be explained if you no longer had the blueprints. If you have them to your fellow apprentice, then I could see you not leaving them to your trusty foremen." Iceberg stares at the man in fear.
"We don't have anything against you. A lot has happened tonight. Being unable to hide one's shock under such conditions is normal for any human being---"
Robin takes a surprised step back as Luffy bursts into the room, Paulie not far behind, breaking the wall near them. On the opposite wall, Zoro, Chopper, and Nami rush in, minding the rubble the swordman created.
"Robin! I finally found you!" Robin hides her surprise well behind furrowed brows and beads of sweat. Luffy was panting, covered in ash while Paulie was covered in blood.
"Hey, Luffy! Where the heck have you been?!" Zoro yells, his voice rash and filled with confusion.
"Robin, I'm so glad to see you." Said Chopper.
"Hold on, what's going on here?!" Nami questions a loud. She looks around, eying the foremen in professional clothing, only making her more confused.
"Well, well, well..." Lucci drones, eying the pirates. From the floor, Iceberg groans as he strains his head to look at Paulie and Luffy.
"Strawhat." He huffs. "Paulie!!!" He gurgles.
"...Mr. Iceberg?! What--what on earth is going on here?!" Iceberg snarls at his friend, blood dripping from his lips.
"Paulie, you idiot, why didn't you run?!" Paulie doesn't respond, too busy staring at his friends, dressed in all black and staring imposingly back at him. He shakes with rage, fist clenched as she eyes Lucci.
"You guys are the ones who're trying to assassinate him?!" No one answers, even as he screams their names. They remain emotionless as Paulie grows more and more frustrated. "This must be some kind of sick joke!!"
Luffy turns to look at Paulie, just as confused. "That's right!! They're the shipwrights who were with you!!" He notices Lucci, particularly his pigeon. "The guy with the pigeon!!"
"Now that you mention it, I recognize that square nose guy." Zoro looks at Kaku. He was the one who inspected Merry.
Nami moved closer to the swordman, mostly out of fear. "Now way! You mean the assassin was someone inside the organization?!"
Lucci, ignoring the rambling of the pirates, takes a look at Paulie. his eyes where blank and lacking any sympathy. "Paulie, the truth is, we work for the Government intelligence." He spoke. "I know this is sudden, and you may not believe us, so should I smash in Iceberg's face to prove it?" The room becomes deadly silent, Paulie's eyes widening in horror.
"Quit messing with me! That's enough!" Paulie in a blind rage shoot one of his ropes towards the man, who remains still as Paulie pursues him. Before the rope could even touch Lucci, Paulie falls to the ground as he comes in contact with Lucci's finger.
Lucci slowly retracts his finger from Paulie's abdomen, dripping with blood. "Haven't you learned your lesson yet?!" Paulie remains silent, only groaning slightly as he collapses.
"Why...Why would you guys?!" Paulie lets out a painful breath as he struggles to speak. Lucci moves slowly towards the cowering man, his face unchanging.
"It doesn't matter, you were going to be eliminated anyway." Lucci grabs onto Paulie's shoulder, holding onto him tight as his other hand moved towards him.
Paulie never feels the impact though, Lucci being too preoccupied with holding onto Luffy's foot which was extended in his direction. When his foot doesn't work, he sends punch after punch his way, none of which affect him at all. Lucci sighs, annoyed, disappearing and reappearing behind him, pushing a finger into his neck, sending Luffy backwards and falling.
The pirate captain coughs as Lucci gazes down at him. "If you were normal, you'd have a hole in your neck. You'd have died instantly rubber man." When Luffy recovers, he extends an arm and grabs Paulie, dragging him away from Lucci. Luffy wheezes but continues to stare daggers at the man. "What are you doing, strawhat?"
"You're planning to kill this guy, right?!" Luffy stands, chest heaving up and down. "You built ship together, didn't you?!" He asks.
"Until a while ago, yes. Everything's different now."
"So, you're really a traitor?! Fine then!" Luffy yells in response. "All I know is I made a promise. I promise this guy we'd thrash whoever was trying to kill the ice guy!!!"
"Why are you taking Paulie's side?" Kaku asks.
"Because I've got business with you!!" Luffy looks over at Robin, raising a brow at her. "Robin! What gives?! Why are you with these guys?! If you want to leave us, tell me why?!"
Nami nods her head, looking at her friend. "Yeah, these guys say they're with the Government! Why are you with them?!"
Robin lets out a quiet breath, clenching her fist underneath her cloak. "You people don't listen very well, do you?" She looks at the crew and notices you're not here. "I told the cook and the ship's doctor I was leaving. Didn't they tell you?" Where were you, where was Usopp?
"We told them! But I don't get why!" Chopper yells.
Robin face becomes stern, and she can feel her nails dig into her palms. "To accomplish my goal, I'll make any sacrifice." She hopes her voice doesn't waver.
"You'd go as far as to frame your friends for murder?" Zoro questions, and Robin can see the anger in his face. The wrinkles in his brow, the tenseness of his shoulders, she chose to ignore it.
"I don't need to tell you that." Robin responds.
"Are you crazy, Nico Robin?!" Iceberg yells. "Go you understand what it is you're trying to do?!"
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Iceberg." She glares at him. "Now be quiet." She silences him, hands spawning from the ground and locking him in place. "Don't get in my way!!"
"Robin! What are you doing?!" She hears Luffy yell, but she just wishes you were here. She wanted to know you were okay, that you were safe before she finally left.
But she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve you.
"I'm sorry to break up this happy reunion, but there are some people of importance we must find right now. We're in a hurry." Lucci says, motioning towards Kalifa.
"Kalifa, how long do we have left?"
"Two minutes."
"This is a bit sudden, but in two minutes this mansion will go up in a ball of flames." Lucci says calmly. The others all gasp, gawking at the accusation. "Fire is such an effective method for erasing all sorts of evidence." Lucci mentions. "I'd hurry up and leave the mansion as soon as possible. That is if you can get by us." The members of CP9 stand tall in front of the pirates.
"Looks like they plan to get rid of us." Zoro grabs his sword, keeping a firm hold on it. "And our "friend" Nico Robin has clearly chosen her side. Luffy, now do you understand that Robin's left the ship?"
"I don't buy it!!" Luffy screams in rage. "Robin! I won't let you leave like this!" He yells, but Robin doesn't seem to care.
She turns, pulling up her hood and covering her face. "Goodbye." She says, walking towards the window. Luffy attempts to get to her, only being halted by Blueno. The others attempt to move closer, but their no match for Kaku and Kalifa, not in the state they're in.
"Don't go, Robin! Our conversation isn't over!" Luffy's voice is more guttural, whether due to fighting or something more, Robin doesn't know. She takes one looks back at her struggling friends, all which look at her with desperation. But even with them her, she still craves you. She should've gotten to know you more, maybe then she wouldn't be filled with as many regrets.
"No, it's over. I won't be seeing you again." She says a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Luffy, hurry up and grab Robin!" Zoro ignores her, urging for his captain to act before it's too late. His moment of distraction allows Kaku land an attack on him, wounding the swordman.
"Go, Nico Robin." Luffy is stopped by Lucci, Robin jumping out the window and away from the pirates.
---
"You're breakin' my heart, man!!" Franky sobs, which Usopp only role his eyes at.
"Why are you crying?!" Usopp side eyes the cyborg.
"Idiot!" Franky blocks his face with his hand. "I ain't crying." Usopp hears a sniffle, and he crosses his arms. "Fine, I admit I'm moved that you'd go so far to protect the ship!!" He rolls his eyes, and turns back to the ship.
Currently, Usopp and Merry were residing in Franky's secret base. In a technical sense, he, along with his ship, was kidnapped, but he couldn't really focus on that know. All he really cared about was Merry and figuring out where you were. He could still hear the sniffling of Franky behind him, all because of Usopp's story, which he had no intention of being sad.
"We're not comrades anymore, don't you get it." Usopp yelled, looking back at the sobbing cyborg. "We left them..." Usopp mumbles.
Franky's expression immediately changed, looking more intrigued. "We?" He peered over Usopp's shoulder, surely noticing Usopp's scowl.
"Yes, we." He spoke matter a factly. "You remember them..." Usopp mumbled, refusing to speak anymore. Franky, in fact, did remember you. He remembered your fear, your anger, your bravery. He remembered when you stood up for Usopp and when he was taken a back by your clear perseverance in the face of danger.
Franky didn't show any of this though, choosing to instead sit on a couch and strum on a guitar. "A break up like that deserves a song."
Usopp could feel the embarrassment in his bones. "Are you making fun of me?!" Usopp yelled at Franky's humming.
"I anoint teasing, you're a cool brother." Franky said, looking away slightly as a small frown graced his face. "So, I guess you're pretty mad about the 200 million that we stole, huh? Not to mention the major beat-down we gave you." Usopp wasn't upset about that, he didn't care that he got hurt. He cared that they messed with you, that they made you scared, you didn't deserve that.
"What happened, happened." Usopp gripped on his hammer tight. "There's no point in holding a grudge."
Franky's expression didn't change. "That's read decent of you, although I should tell you about that 200 million. We used it all up."
"I will kill you." Usopp said blank, threatening to throw his hammer at him.
"Chill man!" Franky begged. "No need to get cranky." He held out his hands his mock sympathy. "Look, I'll show you that I can be a real man too." He crossed his arms, staring down the sniper. "Sure, I wiped out your crew's fortune, but don't forget, you destroyed my home sweet home and dismantling factory, the Franky house, and wiped out most of my underlings."
He reclined farther back into the couch. "All of which to say, we should both sink out rage about this thing, brother," He held a thumb towards his face. "So, what are you gonna do now? If you don't have a place to go, you can start here!"
Usopp turned towards Franky, shaking his head at the idea. "I don't plan to become a ship demolisher. I may quit my crew, but I'm still a pirate!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't have to get all upset on me, dude." Franky watched as Usopp continued working. "Speaking of your crew, what about the other one, y'know, the one you quit with. What happened to them." Franky tilted his head.
Usopp stared down at the floor, not wanting to answer. He didn't really know what to say. "I'm not sure." Usopp said quietly. "I haven't seen them in a while." Franky could see the fear on Usopp's face clear as day, no matter how hard Usopp tried to stifle it down. He was scared for you, for your safety, especially now. "Is it true that there's a high tide coming?" Usopp asked.
Frank nodded, his face serious. "Aqua Laguna. That's what they call it around here. Everything's probably flooded already, but since your ships here, you can relax."
"It must be rough, getting flooded like this every year." Franky nodded.
"Everyone's pretty used to clearing out. What's the real worry is the ocean's water levels rising. Eventually, this town will become unlivable."
"Well, when it gets to that point, you can just take the sea train and move somewhere else, right?" Usopp asked.
Franky smirked at the mention of the train. "You could do that, couldn't you? At least, you can now. But before the creation of the sea train, because the waters around were so rough, it was almost impossible to even make trips between islands."
He let out a hearty laugh. "That's why the Puffing Tom was created!" Usopp felt a little happier after seeing Franky so positive. It was different than how he usually was, more longing in his smile.
"So, my new brother, gettin down to business. What are you going to do after fixing that ship?" Usopp smiles wide at the cyborg.
"Obviously, me and (Y/n) are destine for even more adventures! And someday, I'll go back to the East Blue, my hometown!" Franky just stared at the excited man, shaking his head.
"No, you won't be able to go back, not to the East Blue, it's too far." He said, dulling the mood immediately. "When I hauled the ship us here, I got a good look at that thing. That's ship's done for, as a dismantler, I'd recommend you retire her to scrap." Usopp gaped, becoming enraged and pointing his slingshot as him. "I'll help you take the ship apart."
"You'll what?! No! I won't let you do that!!"
Franky stood tall, confused. "I'm saying I'll help you dismantle your ship."
"That's not even funny!! I'm not letting you hear her! The Going Merry is my ship!"
"That thing isn't a ship anymore."
Usopp lowed his slingshot in confusion, shaking. "What did you just say?"
Franky motioned towards Merry. "If you were planning on throwing you life into the sea along with the ship, I wasn't about to get in your way. But since you say you want to go home to the East Blue on this clunker, I gotta speak up brother."
"This ship won't even make it to the next shore." Franky spoke regretfully. "A ship that can no longer fulfill that purpose..." Frank said as he charged towards the ship, ignoring Usopp's pleas to stop. "...Isn't a ship!" He tore into the ship, wood spewing everywhere.
"Stop!" Usopp was in tears as Franky tore into the ship. "You monster!" He fired off his slingshot, Franky easily dodging. He could see the frustration grow on his face.
"Why you little..." Franky grabbed onto Usopp, throwing him up into the air. "If you won't listen to reason, take a good look!!" While he was in midair, Franky punched him into the water, underneath Merry.
Usopp didn't want to look, too afraid of facing the reality of the situation. When he slowly peered his eyes open, he could see cracking and tares on the underside of the ship. He closed his eyes again, taking a moment before swimming back up to the surface. There, Franky was sitting on the ground, watching Usopp with contempt. Usopp doesn't acknowledge him as he picks up the torn wood with a huff, still dripping wet.
"I'm sorry Merry, I'll fix you up right away!" Usopp said, going back to hammering away. "Over and over, as often as I have to." He was crying, but that was easily hidden by the water on his face. "I'll fix you, okay?!"
Usopp hammered a little harder than needed, frustrated and tired. He wishes you were here, you'd know what to say, you always do such a great job at comforting him.
"Hey, would you knock it off already! You saw the underside of the ship! The kneel's snapped! The outer hull is slipping with that snapped keel at the center, and the ribs are falling to pieces too!!" Franky's yelling was ignored by Usopp. "You think a rank amateur like you can hold her together?!" Usopp suddenly stopped, dropping his hammer and nails.
"Shut up!" He screamed, looking bak at Franky. "I don't want you telling me anything! I don't care if you're right, I'll send you flying if you don't shut up!" Usopp took a deep breath, his exhale shaky. There was a slight shake to his movements, and Franky could see the tears funning down his face. "I already knew all that stuff."
"I knew! I knew the Going Merry was done for!" Usopp fell to the ground, defeated. "When I heard the results of the assessment, It only confirmed what I knew since that day"
The sniveling stopped a bit, Usopp becoming quiet. "At first, I thought it was a bad dream. I never though something so crazy could happen, but..." Suddenly, he looked up from the ground. "One night, when there shouldn't have been anyone on board I heard the sound of someone hammering!!"
It was back at the Sky Island, when the ship was still on the alter. It was the cold of night when Usopp heard the noise, peering behind a tee to inspect the sound. "The fog was thick, but I'm sure somebody was there. I didn't know who it was. The next morning, I discover some really lousy repairs had been made to the ship."
"I know it sounds ridiculous but---"
"That guy had a wooden mallet and looked like a sailor didn't he?"
Usopp looked up, shocked. "Huh? How did you know? How..."
"Well, brother, you saw Klabautermann." Franky said like it was the most obvious thing.
"Klabawho? Usopp mumbled.
"Klabautermann." Franky corrected. "He's a legend passed down among sailors. He holds a wooden mallet in one hands, wears a sailor's raincoat, and when misfortune befalls the ship, he runs around a warns everyone." Usopp was silent as he listened to the explanation.
"Sometimes they say he saves sailors' lives but to be honest, this is a first for me. I've never heard of anyone who's seen him before." Franky smiled another more comforting smile. "The ship is grateful to its crew in proportion to how well they've treated it. I bet this ship really wanted to get you lot to the other shore, whatever it took to get you there. And the fact it cared about its crew so much that it took on a human shape for that night means this ship must have been very happy indeed."
Usopp's eyes were brimming with tears. He turns his head, looking over at the front of Merry. "So then, it really was you who came a talked to me that nigh, wasn't it, Merry?"
Franky finally sits back on the couch. "If that doesn't beat everything! So you knew you ship was at it's limit and you still split from you cremates?"
"...It isn't easy to be rational about something like that."
"And the other one, why'd they leave?"
Usopp thinks for a second, questioning whether he should tell Franky about you, or keep you to himself. "They---"
There was a knock on the door, interrupting Usopp.
"Sounds like we've got some visitors."
---
"Are you okay?" You feel Sanji's hand on you back, and when you look at him, he's lookin gat you, concerned. You nod, ignoring the shiver down you spine. You feel like something bad just happened, but you don't know what. Swallowing down you fear, you hope everyones okay, mainly Usopp. You feel bad for abandoning him like that, but you can't dwell on that now.
"Yeah, I'm fine." You shake your head. "What's the situation look like." Sanji peers behind the wall you were both leaning on, keeping out of the sights of the Government officials.
"It looks like she's being escorted away, but that doesn't make sense." He shakes his head. "If she wanted to run, she should be able to on her own. Does she have some kind of objective here?"
"Mr, Corgy! It's CP9!" You heard someone yell, both of you looking the best you could. In the streets, were a group of very well dressed individuals, carrying two very large bags.
"Where are you taking me?! I'm never forgiving you people for this, do you hear me?!" At the sound of Usopp, you move closer, nearly nocking over Sanji. He was screaming at some one you couldn't quite see, their face covered. Before you could get any closer, Sanji was pulling you back towards him.
"Welcome back from you long assignment!" Another person yelled, this one much farther away. None of the professional looking people responded, instead choosing to continue walking.
"This isn't a game, look sharp! Everyone board the train! Prepare to depart for Enies Lobby!"
You take a look at Saint, his face turn, but his hold on you still very present. His hand was wrapped around your wrist, tight, but not so tight that it hurt, almost like a constant reminder that he was there, with you. You were too overwhelmed by his presence that you barely felt him dragging you out towards the station. Everyone was previously there was gone, the station towering over you.
"Since Aqua Laguna Is approaching, we're pushing the schedule forward and will be departing shortly" A announcement was made over the intercom,
"They're leaving already?" Sanji groaned. "I wonder what Luffy and the rest of them are doing. Isn't anyone going to get here In time?" He says, before rushing towards the station with you in hand.
You hope everyone gets here soon.
---
A/n: Sorry this took so long, I hope this is good.
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throwingmetothelions · 7 months
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It’s so important that you read this disclaimer/TWs. I am a southern woman and I will be until I die. When I was a CW major for a decade almost all I wrote were southern gothic pieces, and this does not read like any fic I’ve posted here. This is very much Auntie V’s old writing style. I am taking you to my roots. The other main character in this piece is black. This is your one reminder that I am a black woman. Don’t start no shit - won’t be no shit in terms of my descriptions. Second - I really kinda put a spotlight on Noah at his lowest as far as my writing goes in the beginning. There are a few potentially triggering mental health allusions; some regarding hygiene, and I just wanted to make sure you understand that you aren’t alone. TW: Religious talk, mental health decline, one singular mention of a baby dying with no details, blood mentioned right after that. Oral sex f receiving, D/S dynamic if you squint. I would actually go as far as to say there's a smatter of angst up in this bitch. Supernatural shit. Noah kinda spirals toward the end and slips into madness. Absolute smut because it's me and I have never written anything else here. Let’s get spooky. WC: 6k (I chopped it a lil bit so that’s why it’s all one) 
NoahxOC? Is she really my OC? You be the judge.
It’s been exactly three hours and forty-one minutes since Noah decided that if that one dude in Pirates of The Caribbean could become one with the ship, he could become one with his mattress. No coral or sea stars to adorn him for the rest of his ever, just sweat and a little bit of deodorant, but nothing pretty. Thinks maybe he’ll turn to dust or something easily sweepable. No words and barely breathing. Continues inhaling the smell of incense he didn't light, and swallowing down saliva and self pity. Continues laying. Wallowing. Hits the play button on his memory bank and lets the hate scroll behind his purpling eyelids. 
“It’s all autotune”.
“He was so shaky at the Cleveland show dude idk”.
“They started all that mysterious bullshit with the masks and the no socials and his vocals went to shit immediately. Fuckin’ wild”.
“Noah needs to let Jolly just …” 
A well aimed throw from Nicholas ends with a pen hitting Noah in the middle of his back. “Snap the fuck out of it dawg. Since when have you listened to what people say about your singing? It ain’t true and you know damn well I’d tell you if it was,” Nick sighed as he leaned his acoustic against the desk. There isn’t much to say here. Nicholas has been there, albeit never there in the physical sense of not bathing for over a week and ignoring his best friend’s phone calls until the aforementioned friend threatened him with a welfare check from either him, or the cops. 
People often forget that “blood is thicker than water” is a bastardized phrase. “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” but it is not thicker than the knots that Nick spent an hour combing from Noah’s matted locks after he threw him in the shower and helped him scrub yesterday. Do not speak to Nicholas Ryan about that fucking covenant. He wrote the anthology and dedicated it to Noah long ago. 
“Remember the story your grandma used to tell us when we were younger? Robert Johnson? Maybe you can just sell your soul to a demon and bam. Never miss a note again in your life,” he pokes the last vowel into Noah’s kneecap as he tries to lift the soggy and molded blanket of depression off of that moment. Off of his best bud. “I’m telling you bro, it’s - it’s real. I feel like it really happened,” Nicholas cuts his eyes to Noah for a split second before continuing to thumb the strings of his guitar.
“You also felt like you had Covid that one time, but it was just the jalapenos on that sandwich fucking with your tastebuds so …" Noah dismisses Nick’s 2 AM Red Bull fueled theories and rolls over on the bed to face him. “Besides. If that shit was true I would have done it ages ago,” he chuckles a little bit, and the clearing in his throat reminds him that he hasn’t done that in awhile. 
—---
I ain't goin’ to state no color 
“The lynch mobs ran his family outta town when he was a boy. Been a travellin’ man against his will his whole life. Learned to play in a dark graveyard, though the dead can hear like us”. 
But her front teeth is crowned in gold
“Went by many names, Robert did. Women and whiskey stole his soul long before he sold it to the devil at them crossroads. Only a beast would howl the blues like that”.
She got a mortgage on my body
“His wife and baby died bloody and hollerin’. They wouldn’t let him see the child that lived for that. Your loved ones are never spared from your debts, child”. 
And a lien on my soul
“He was poisoned like a field mouse in a corner basement. Ulcers in his throat where the demons took their chords back one by one. May death be kinder now.” 
—---
Noah shudders at the mental reel of his grandmother spinning that story from her recliner like a textile through her vein-blued fingers. He doesn’t hold on to many memories of her, and knowing that Nicholas is holding them for him settles in his gut like concrete blocks on the ocean floor. May death be kinder now.
“I think it works anywhere too. Johnson held up a guitar at the crossroad and the devil just popped up. I believe in you,” Nicholas whispered the last sentence while catching Noah’s knuckles with the flat of his palm. “I’m going to bed dude. Taking the couch because if you kick that one spot on my shin again I won’t be responsible for my actions,” he bites through a yawn as he drags himself over to the couch by the door. The unspoken knowledge that he would just be there until Noah was Noah again laid itself over the pair along with the dark as the LEDs timer faded out. 
—---
The alarm on his phone vibrated under Noah’s pillow an hour later. 
Gently kicking the blanket off of his body, he turned it off and put the flashlight on the lowest possible brightness. Through the white haze he could make out Nick’s chest as it swelled and fell with quiet breaths. No snores to give away his slumber, but his cracked mouth and the arm hanging down to the carpet told Noah that he was knocked, so his plan was still greenlit. 
Listen. If anyone asked Noah - yeah, it was a weird fucking time to be taking a walk, but his mental health was in the fucking gutter and he’d happily have his band mates vouch for that if he got into trouble. A 3:30 AM walk was better than no walk at all. Fresh air was better than the stale and dust-littered cloud that hung in his bedroom that he’d been choking on for god knows how long. Stretching his arms into his faded navy hoodie (no shirt because they were all in desperate need of some laundry detergent and some scrubbing) and stepping into some gray joggers, Noah gently padded across the floor and thanked some God that the door was cracked already. He patted his pockets: phone, knife, lighter, cigs, keys. He popped his feet into some slides, opened the front door, and Noah Sebastian took off into a humid Appalachian night. 
The stars looked something like crumbs swept from a placemat in their scattering. 
Fireflies peeked through bushes like sun does clouds, and they swirled the same.
Noah thinks thoughts that adults would. This new asphalt they paved looks great. Glad the holes are gone. Anything to keep his brain moving. Not stuck. It’s kinda hot for this time of year. I guess August is still considered summer, though.
See, the rollercoaster of fame was something Noah had been standing in line for since he was 13. He’d been growing and stretching and waiting his turn, but he hadn’t anticipated the steep incline to success. All the eyes were on him all the time, and the urge to spread them around and give them to his bandmates had never been stronger. He thought he wanted this, but the critics came on strong and took the form of delusional children on the internet wavelengths from reality. He felt like shit because, at this point, his arch nemesis was probably a twelve year old that had never seen a concert and he was the grown man assclown that let it get to him. 
Noah had been bracing himself for the inevitable drop that must come, but the only thing he knew for certain was that he absolutely couldn’t handle it. If it all came speeding down and stopped with screeching brakes and smokey sparks, he wouldn’t be the one in control and going off the rails with it all seemed like his only out.
Shaking his head from the fog, he noticed that the jagged white line of paint on the side of the road seemed to fade out. He pins it on a bit of “lazy painters” and a lot of “not my fuckin problem”.
Keep walking. 
His complaint about the heat must have been heard by some alien brainworm because he’s suddenly quite grateful for the hoodie and the breeze that rummages through the leaves like a searching hand in a kitchen drawer. Feels good. 
Keep walking.
The cicadas had stopped screeching. The noise, akin to a violin being played after all of its strings have broken, was gone. Maybe all things must sleep. Maybe they got picked up by an owl. May death be kinder now. Head down. Hood up.
Keep walking. 
Head up. Hood down.
There is no dot of red inside a white paint can, there is no water droplet in an inferno, and Noah is certain that there is no fucking desert in the middle of Richmond, Virginia. 
And yet. 
He finds himself staring out at nothing. There is sand, and clay, something red and dusty and on the horizon there is nothing. Noah whips his head backward and sees the same scene behind him. The road was narrow now, and there was another narrow road of black going straight through it a few feet in front of him. No street signs. Nothing. He rubbed his eyes with his palms as one would if they were waking up from a bad dream, but when his lids opened again he found that nothing changed. Same dirty slides, same clothes, same desert of nothing. Noah walked forward. His steps felt real, and his stomach immediately started to ache. He remembered the story. Remembered the absolute conviction and strength in his grandmother’s voice and teeth when she told him that the crossroads come to you when you need them the most. 
She pointed her finger at him in a way that Southern women do when she told him that praying and practicing, Jesus and magic, and your footpath and your heart’s blood compass could all align somewhere in this world. “All the trees aint your friends, and they keep their secrets in the Spanish moss”.
 Noah grew up on gravel, backwoods revivals, and a fear of God that was overcome through alcohol fueled tears and some screams ripped from his chest by the man himself. Maybe God took a rib as payment, and maybe he yelled like Adam. He didn’t have long to think, because the tornado of realization and helplessness took him down to his knees. The blacktop dug into his skin as he threw his head back. Noah didn’t know what he was feeling, but he had accepted some sort of … fate? Was it fate? Did he deserve whatever was about to happen, and what did he do? Why did it seem like this road was lit up by stadium lights that he couldn't see? Questions on questions, so he closes his eyes once more, places his palms on the tops of his thighs, leans his head back so the ends of his hair brush his heels, and he parts his lips.Tries to breathe. He did not repent in his last moments, but there were pictures floating of Jolly, Nicholas, Nick, and there were late nights and popsicles and beer cans and being young and dying young and that’s all very okay. Noah’s life was okay. May death be kinder now. 
All of a sudden, Noah felt two slender fingers slip past his lips, glide over his tongue, and purposefully gag the shit out of him. He felt cold rings catch behind his front teeth as the owner tried to wrench the fingers back from the wet of his mouth. His eyes flew open with immediate tears as he sputtered and coughed - the fit his reflexes threw landed him on his ass with one arm bracing himself. He hums and spits and jerks his head back and forth. His nose burns now. 
“What the fuck,” he yells as he glares up. Noah catches a glimpse of the veins in his hand as they pop and flare under his tense skin. 
“That’s a naughty word, boy,” the figure blew smoke from its mouth with every word effectively stopping Noah from seeing it clearly. It threw the cigarette to the side and cocked its head. “Try ya words again,” it spoke slowly. 
With the smoke haze gone, Noah got a better look at what he was sharing this space with. If he wasn’t already on the ground he might have been sent there again. His eyes started from the ground up, and they turned around and went down from her head again so no detail would be missed.
She was at least six feet tall. She stood barefoot, toes painted honeycomb yellow and some symbols tattooed on the tops of her feet. Gold anklets, bangles, and various types of black cord wrapped each ankle. Her legs were long and brown like cattails, and they spoke to unearthly strength as she stood flat footed. 
Noah couldn’t stop himself from memorizing the way the stretch marks on her exposed hips moved like sawgrass on a marsh plain when she shifted her weight. She wore a tattered skirt made of dull black leather and some other sort of hide. Her stomach pudged over the sides of her skirt, and he saw the same symbols her feet carried spread across it. Her chest was hidden by a bandeau made of the same black leathery material, but Noah caught the curve and fall of her tits and committed them to memory immediately. Her skin was the color of cassava and it held a sparkle. It could have been a sheen of sweat or something ethereal. Her arms ended in hands that held scars, a black hobo bag, and the same tattoos. Her fingertips were ink black, and her fingernails were short, and the same goldish yellow as her toes. Golden rings covered in ash and gems clung tightly to her digits, and her hair was piled high on her head; a beehive weaved of black locs adorned with glittering beads and small animal bones that hung and fell with the breeze surrounding them. Noah still swears he saw a Carolina wolf spider crawl around one. Her face. Her face was composed of freckled cheeks, sharp eyes the color of pitch, and that same mysterious tattooed symbol on the bridge of her nose. The plumped two-toned lips she had curled into a smile and revealed the gold capped fangs on her canines. A forked tongue shot out and licked over one, and he couldn’t help but assume it was some sort of warning. 
“Try ya words. Again,” she spoke. 
“This shit can’t be real,” Noah mumbled as he leaned his forehead on the palm of his hand. “Who are you and what the fuck is going on?”
She chuckled and shook her head at him, her necklaces rattled as she explained, “I am … well, the humans call me a few names. I know who you are though, Noah,” she sneered again as his pupils blew open. 
At this point, he was ready to swing on whatever the fuck this thing was. She was a deadly brand of unconventional gorgeous that brought the fog right back to his brainspace, but he’d convinced himself that it wasn’t considered hitting a girl if that girl was some ancient all knowing being.
“They call me ‘The Tempter,’ ‘The Accuser,’ ‘Belial,’ ‘Satan,’ among others. I’ve never been one for formalities, love. Call me Luci. I am the one that they presumably told you to fear,” she said as she knelt down to Noah’s eye level. “... boo,” her fingers wiggled around her face as small flames erupted from the tips.
“You’re - you’re the …” he stuttered as if he’d been backhanded.
“The …” her eyebrows raised with the octave of her voice.
“The fucking devil? I’m gonna pass the fuck out. This isn’t … you’re not real. You’re not real. This isn’t fucking real,” Noah rose to his feet from shaking knees. Every childhood Sunday was spent under a weather-beaten willow tree memorizing historic ways to shame the devil. To shame her. There was no pulling him out of this dream state, though he wished to hell and back that Nicholas would. He was sure his body should be flailing if it was still on the bed at all. Surely Nick could hear the curdling screams he was trying to emit. 
Luci brought a hand to Noah’s now tear streaked face, black smoke rising around them in billows. “Nicholas is - he is not going to make this decision for you. There’s nothing to be saved from because you’re not dreaming. I think you know why I’m here Noah. I know what it feels like to fall from grace, and I can pull you back from that ledge. You have somethin’ that I need, and it’s just a snap of the fingers,” she delivered a gleaming half smile and a raised eyebrow.   
Was his soul that valuable? And why did the preachers leave out that the devil watches people like some sort of demonic pervert? Was she just a demonic pervert? 
“I resent that,” she frowns over at him. “Trying to stop me from reading your thoughts is kinda   dumb. Blueberry muffins, Pepsi, fuzzy blankets … grass flip flops?” 
Noah decided that if he talked words with his mouth that his brain wouldn’t think too hard. Maybe. He’d accepted death twice that night already, and his music was his reason for breathing. Figured if his music career advanced, if he won, and he took the boys with him that … well, that all of his important things would be safe. No one could harm them. Call it selfish and narcissistic, but he felt that there was quite literally nothing on this mortal coil that he would be afraid to lose aside from them. As painful as it hit him, this wasn’t the first time he’d thought about this so there was no split second decision here. “So … what do I have to do to keep from falling? Like … to keep the fame?” 
Luci wasn’t taken aback at how expeditious he was with his decision. She’d been tasting the drive and hunger that he held in his chest for years through the atmospheric ether, and she craved it. He was so much more powerful than he would ever know, and she cursed his maker for the insecurities he plagued him with. They were insecurities that Noah thought she’d caused for a long time, and it couldn’t have been further from the truth. She was never the harbinger of the dark that nestled in his ligaments. “It’s not the way you think. It’s a bit more … personal and up close,” she mused as they looked each other dead in the eye - crow’s feather black to cracked chestnut brown. Luci reached a hand out and placed it on Noah’s flushed cheek. “Now,” she licked his pulse point, “I will give, and you will do the taking. I will speak, and you listen,” her voice flows out with another puff of smoke, and the smell of burning pine straw floats between them.
Noah mentally thumbs through the brain file labeled “Dumb As Fuck Things That Nick Folio Said While High,” and his mind pulls the page titled “Fear Boners,” to reference his current state. The devil was always shown as hot, but the realization that she was a leather-wearing tribal goddess that could kill him with a singular blink was a lot. May death be kinder now. This information was apparently well received by his conscience, and his cock.
Noah swears he feels her jagged fingernails carve a home in the nape of his neck, but her hands remain on her curved hips. He can make out whips and whirls of some sort of mist floating around her fingers. He feels his sweat dampened lips part open as the pressure around his throat increases and her stance stays the same. Unwavering and violently sure of herself, Luci relaxes the hold and speaks.
“Take it off,” she doesn’t ask. The devil doesn’t ask when she can smell how desperate someone is for her unholy helping hands. 
He makes quick work of throwing his hoodie to the eastern wind, and he had a hand in the band of his sweatpants before it stopped him. It - that misty glitter magic she was using … “The Force,” or whatever the shit from Star Wars was. Is she where they got the idea for - regardless. Luci’s magic brought his hand to a halt. 
She lifted her foot up and tapped the asphalt they stood on, her bangles gently clattering. The hard surface of black grit became a softer patch of Kentucky bluegrass; green, lush, and dew sprinkled. Luci walked behind Noah and let her hands wander down his torso. She stopped to pluck at his already hardened nipple, and the goosebumps Noah had been pricked with seemed to multiply. 
Her fingertips danced over the happy trail Noah was suddenly made well aware that he had. The feeling of her magic and the warm southern breeze twirling through the light hairs there told Noah that she might break him, and that he would beg for nothing less. “That’s a good portrait of Grim,” Luci quips as she moves to kneel at Noah’s feet, “we go way back,” her golden fangs scrape the tattoo that spreads across Noah’s torso. 
“Fuck yes,” he groans as his hips buck up at nothing. 
Luci drags his pants down his legs slowly, just enough to let the band catch on the head of his dick before letting his cock spring up to smack against his stomach. She wanted to hear that hiss she knew Noah kept under his tongue. “Tell ya what,” her forked tongue darted out to catch the small pearl of precum that had gathered at Noah’s untouched tip, “I’m gonna have my fun, and you’re gonna let me know why you deserve to be up at the tippity-top where the angels play, hmm?”
She rose to her feet and met Noah’s eyes again. One finger underneath his chin, the smell of the pine straw again, and the gathering mist were enough to bring his mouth forward and onto hers. He moaned so deeply it would have been some type of embarrassing if he was anywhere else, but the feeling of sucking in her plump bottom lip and licking over her teasing tongue with his own was sending Noah to a different plane of feel-good. 
Luci pulled away before she snapped her fingers and brought about a chair from some other universe. Nothing remarkable about it, Noah thinks, just plain brown wood. It looked like the broken seats that he’d seen off to the side of his grandma’s kitchen. No use sitting on it - those seats were for old newspapers and grocery bags and not the devil, but what the hell did he know? “Ya mouth may not always sing perfect, but you can come show me what else it can do,” she crooked a finger at him and pulled him over and to his knees in front of her. She sat in the chair and with a dismissive wave of her hand, her skirt caught the wind. Luci leaned back and spread her thighs open. 
Noah knelt in a way that said that no object forged by man would keep his body down, and levitating up to her spread before him would be the only honorable end to this. May death be kinder now. He took in the glistening lips, the way the brown gave way to the pink of her core, and the way that his tongue felt magnetized to that spot. “Looks like honey,” he mumbled as wrapped an arm under each thigh and pulled Luci to the edge of her seat. Noah brought his mouth about two inches away from her cunt. He took in the dark patch of curls above her slit, the way that they faded where her puffy lips started, and the way that he knew he’d have to work to get to the heart of her. 
Luci reached a hand down and used her middle and index fingers to spread herself further. Gathering a string of slick, she dangled it above Noah’s now open mouth and like a traveler finding water in the Atacama he took it down with a groan. Tasted like honey and something dark. “Come talk to her. Tell her why you deserve it all,” Luci threads her hand through Noah’s hair and beckons him forward with a tug. 
The tip of Noah’s tongue applies so little pressure that you wouldn’t have known he made contact with her folds if she hadn’t arched her back off the chair. “I uhm. I think I deserve it because,” he pauses to give her clit a kiss, savoring the way that her bud fit perfectly between his pursed lips, “because I know I've given this all that I have to give. I’ve already given it my heart and soul,” he licks around it in a wide circle before stopping his sentence with one more peck. 
“Keep going,” Luci mumbles as she lets her head roll back. Her locs fell around her as she let him worship her pussy. Feminine power brought the best of these mortal men to their knees, and she was not new to this. What she wasn’t prepared for was the stark smell of his yearning. This one didn’t just want to trade his soul for fame like the rest. A few touches below the belt and they were too bound by greed to be of any use at all. Luci couldn’t smell the green of that greed at all. Not just brimstone and hot guilt … he was all jasmine and cold water, moonbeams and sawgrass. Noah smelled like all he wanted to do was stay down on his knees with his lips on her lips, and it made her veins swell. She was losing her grip on her own magic, and bowing to the mercy of his. 
“And I think that the world needs to hear my voice,” Noah sucked one of her lips into his mouth and softly pulled while she pushed his face further into her pussy. His hands gathered as much of her ample thighs as they could, and his fingertips pressed into the muscles until small circles formed. Anything to ground himself and keep him from floating up to the wispy clouds where his head already was. “And I think that I’m multi-talented. I write and produce my own shit ya know,” he brings her throbbing clit back between his lips, starts a slow suckling pace, and moans from the back of his throat. Noah’s eyes close, and the only thing that changes his rhythm is Luci’s bucking. 
She brings her feet up from the grass to the rungs on the bottom of the chair and uses the leverage to lift her ass off the seat a bit. “Yes. Lick that fucking pussy,” she grits from behind clenched teeth as she brings both hands to his head and grinds her hips into his busy mouth. She was gone. The feeling of Noah working over her pussy with an expertise only found before in the mouths of gods was all but too much. “You're gonna make me cum on that tongue. Please make me cum on your tongue,” Luci feels the muscles in her upper back flex as she continues the filthy pace she’s set against his face.
Noah can feel her wetness spreading across his cheeks and down his chin as she does so. He knows he could drown in it, and he left the graceful art of giving two fucks back at home. This entire time he’s been ignoring the ache in his dick - scared that, at this point, he might be so hard that it would literally hurt to touch. In another universe, if this was some sort of sleep paralysis episode, he knew he’d wake up covered in his own dried cum. Wondered if he’d wake Nick up with the moans because he was probably humping the mattress, or fucking against the blanket. 
Noah didn’t have to beg for her orgasm with his words. The burn in his bent knees, the panting breath he hadn’t been able to catch since her juices hit his lips, and the act of accepting of a distinguished death by drowning screamed at her - yelled with all their might to flood plains in the way that monsoons do. 
Luci braced herself with one hand on the back of his head, and one hand gripping the side of the chair with such force the wood splintered. She came with a hard roll of her hips and a cry that could have stretched from one asteroid to another - wide and ringing. She thinks, for sure, that she obtained some humanity through it all. She offered Noah communion in a new way, and let him thank her for the gifts in a sense. Blood and body. May death be kinder now.
Noah never let her thighs go, but he traded his grounding grip for patterns rubbed in softly by satisfied hands. “I’m not saying I thought about it before, but the movies ain’t got shit on this”, Noah licked the inner crease of her thigh with a restless tongue and delighted in the jolt. He watched her regain her breath and thought about how, no matter the outcome, the power trip he’d just taken wouldn’t be matched. He, Noah Sebastian Davis, had made the devil herself fall apart underneath him. He was a force of nature that wasn’t to be questioned. He was the fucking king. 
He remained knelt at this altar. 
Devotion be damned, this one was holy to him. 
That old song tangled through his bones like the veins on an arrowplant leaf. Noah could hear it thrum internally as it traveled around his chest cavity and flew behind his eyes. 
I ain't goin’ to state no color 
But her front teeth is crowned in gold
She got a mortgage on my body
And a lien on my soul 
Thank you! We may see a part 2 if enough of you ask for it? But that definitely wouldn’t star Noah *cough*. 
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