Back on my bullshit of Fyodor absolutely could have and did fall for the contacts and fake teeth because he was too sure of himself to even question whether Chuuya could be lying to him.
Yes, he can memorize the marks he made on a deck of cards and that's very impressive. But Show me one time he even looked Chuuya in the face.
Because he literally doesn't. Chuuya is constantly standing at a distance or behind Fyodor, he is purposely always out of his of sight line.
The closest Fyodor comes to looking directly at Chuuya is in these moments.
Though I would argue his attention is more on the door than Chuuya here. When Fyodor turns around, Chuuya has already leapt into action, once again keeping his face obscured from Fyodor and keeping his back to him when he's being watched.
He even drags Fyodor through the water in such a way that his face isn't in Fyodor's direct view. Chuuya's head is turned forward and away from him.
Fyodor fell for the contacts and fake teeth because Fyodor never considered Chuuya a person, he was just another faceless pawn to him.
298 notes
·
View notes
wano has become a favorite arc of mine for different reasons and it also gave me a lot of zolu brainworms to mull over, so here I go (again). spoilers for some of the big reveals in the arc so beware
despite getting separated shortly after reuniting, yasuie's execution once again highlighted how similarly minded zoro and luffy are - like zoro, luffy gets pissed at the sight of ppl laughing at yasuie after he's killed, though they both learn it's due to the effects of the smile fruits. and despite the fact that doing so could put their plan in jeopardy (hence why sanji yells at zoro to cool his head), luffy actively cheers zoro on (from the distance) when he goes after orochi in retaliation
a nice tiny moment is also back when they're together. luffy was worried since big mom appeared in wano yet jimbei (who had stayed in whole cake island to fend her off along his former crew so the straw hats could escape) hadn't arrived. albeit zoro wasn't even part of the WCI arc events, he's quick to reassure luffy:
although I'm not certain whether law was referring to them specifically or not, there's a part during the discussion of the raid where he says there's two idiots who, no matter how much planning goes into it, are likely to charge straight in regardless. then, of course, this happens:
(so yeah. I think they're probably the idiots)
and funnily enough, zoro doesn't get lost for once. not only does he find luffy, any intention zoro had of (ironically, considering he was causing a ruckus himself) chastising luffy for messing up the infiltration goes out the window when he tells zoro about the spilled oshiruko
this is a direct callback to their interactions with tama when they first reunited in wano. it's cute how attached they got to her and yeah, they're both stupidly reckless at times but this is one occasion in which it isn't just for the sake of chaotic shenanigans - it's them getting angry at how these ppl are disrespecting what tama and the oshiruko stand for. to those present, it seems foolish/weird since they don't understand the context behind it, but it's the kind of understanding that goes on between luffy and zoro precisely bc of the moments they share together.
there's some good panels of both worrying about each other after getting hurt and zoro carrying an injured luffy to safety. they're soooo.
this was pretty good too:
their plan to jump to the roof to face kaido ultimately fails here but it's still cute that zoro's so willing now to just cling to and let luffy carry him around like this (arlong park zoro has come a long way lol). it also says a lot abt luffy's trust in both the crew and zoro that he was fine letting them in charge below while he and zoro went to face kaido together.
the x drake ordeal was kind of funny but it served to show exactly why zoro complements luffy so well. luffy tends to be very trusting toward others, even those who might've started out as enemies which usually works out fine but still. zoro's quick to remind luffy that the guy's a traitor and unreliable, and (along with some of the other straw hats) refuses to blindly accept the impromptu alliance. it's interesting though, that zoro doesn't entirely disregard luffy's opinion nor x drake's help per se - he's just understandably wary of drake's true intentions (pointing out that he's still hiding where he stands in the whole conflict) and eventually agrees to team up. love the balance of it ngl.
that said, the actual fight on the roof has to be one of my favorite parts! it's probably one of the most obvious occasions in which zoro's role as luffy's first mate/right hand man and how much luffy relies on him too shines through. there's zoro slashing big mom and kaido's fire attacks so they wouldn't hurt luffy, taking the lead in attempting to stave off kaido and big mom's joint attack (and succeeding for a bit) despite the fact that he's got three powerful captains beside him, and several panels of him protecting luffy. this one was particularly crazy
this is pretty much zoro's equivalent to "if you wanna kill him you'll have to kill ME first". insane. I love them so much. zoro may be the one to have more instances in which he gets to demonstrate his loyalty and protectiveness towards luffy rather than the opposite - but knowing luffy's the one who usually risks himself for others in grandiose ways, I find it very compelling that zoro gets to be the one to protect him in these important moments, that luffy trusts him to do it and even thanks him for it here in this arc. to me, there's a reason why, out of the whole crew, zoro was the only one to take part in this particular confrontation. mutual trust/understanding/respect etc are at the core of their relationship. it's a two way thing.
fast forward to zoro vs king and OF COURSE this mf thought of luffy when facing the guy.
I posted about this the other day, but something similar happened during zoro's duel against mihawk. when the latter asks what drives zoro to fight despite being so weak, it's this exact part of his meeting with luffy at the marine base that he recalls. zoro has certainly driven himself to get stronger for the crew's sake and for his dream, but it's clear that luffy (and his own promise to kuina) is one of zoro's biggest motivators. he's also the one person zoro has cast aside that very dream of his for so... (thriller bark zoro you live in my heart always).
when zoro wins against king, too, it's his promise to never lose that he recalls. the promise he made to luffy. regardless of how you interpret their relationship, it's obvious luffy means a lot to zoro and moments like these don't let the readers forget it.
that said, this was perhaps the most insane part to me:
just when you think zolu can't get more trope-y than it already is, the manga says: wait a fucking second. canon sun/moon, heaven/hell, god/demon zolu.
I was already spoiled about these bits, though they were exciting to read through anyway. I think it's very curious that both zoro's ancestry and his conqueror's haki reveal happened during the arc where the true nature of luffy's devil fruit comes to light and his awakening into joyboy/nika takes place. can't say for sure what oda's planning for them in the future, but wano is probably the biggest glimpse so far as to the kind of figures luffy and zoro are bound to become (or are already becoming) in one piece's universe.
joyboy luffy being considered a hero to wano only rivaled by shimotsuki ryuma is also so... oof, knowing that ryuma (also called god of the blade) is zoro's ancestor, whose zombie he faced back in thriller bark and whose sword shusui he wielded for a while after that, and that he resembles physically too (both being one-eyed samurai/swordsmen). there's a lot more parallels to be drawn between them, and zoro's conqueror's haki adds a whole new layer to their relationship, but a detail that's fascinating to me is that both zoro's presence and joyboy's awakening in wano are hailed as the work of fate at different points, by kawamatsu and zunesha respectively.
overall there seems to be a thread of "fate" that's tying the story together from the void century to roger's era to the present but choice is also an important aspect imo. zoro and luffy are an example, bc in spite of how their stories have turned out to be somewhat intertwined... it was luffy's choice to seek out the demon pirate hunter and rope him into his crew. it was zoro's choice to join him, to make a promise that'd tie his own dream to luffy's. there's a potential that neither of them could've reached if they hadn't come together to sail in that dinghy and formed an entire crew (a family!) that have all of them journeying towards their dreams, always relying on and striving to become better for one another. all of these little choices for luffy and zoro led them up to this point and onwards, which tbh is just really fucking good.
168 notes
·
View notes
The Laoshi and The Yiling Laozu by chiyukimei
The Laoshi and The Yiling Laozu
by chiyukimei (@chiyukimei)
M, 7k, Wangxian
Summary: Burial Mounds era Lan Qiren and Wei Wuxian had time travelled.
-
Lan Qiren narrowed his eyes. “You’ve heard of the Patriarch of Yiling before, boy?”
Wei Wuxian watched his former teacher with suspicion, “Laoshi, you’ve been there when the sun was shot?”
Lan Qiren nodded.
Kay's comments: It's rare to find a Lan Qiren time-travels story that still feels close to his character like here. Though he's still a much nicer uncle than he is in canon, he actually needs some time warming up to Wei Wuxian after accidently time-travelling together with him. It's also extremely cute to see how much Wei Wuxian enjoys running around younger Lan Wangji and playing with him.
Excerpt: A few days later, Lan Qiren caught sight of Wei Wuxian running alongside Lan Wangji, trying to make him smile and shouting non-stop: Lan Zhan this, Lan Zhan that. He tried hard to not roll his eyes at that childish behavior. God forbid, this man was twenty years old, and still, had no trouble blending in with the fifteen-year-olds. After Wangji left, he stopped Wei Wuxian. “What are you doing?”
Wei Wuxian asked with a surprised face, “What am I doing?”
Lan Qiren, “Why are you pestering Wangji?”
Wei Wuxian bit his lower lip, “I’m not pestering him. I just want to be friends with him.”
Lan Qiren, “Why?”
Wei Wuxian happily exclaimed, “Isn’t it obvious? He is an upstanding, righteous, and beautiful person. Who wouldn’t want to make friends with him? If he smiled a bit all the sisters would be running after him.”
“…Hmm, maybe that’s a good thing he doesn’t smile. You don’t have to deal with all those ladies Laoshi!”
Lan Qiren grumbled, “Shameless!”
Wei Wuxian, “Hah! That’s what Lan Zhan says, all the time! I really forgot how strict he was even when he was a teenager.”
pov lan qiren, canon divergence, humor, crack treated seriously, time travel, time travel fix-it, burial mounds settlement days, burial mounds ensemble as family, cloud recesses study arc, wei wuxian is so whipped, sect leader wen qing, developing relationship
~*~
(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)
74 notes
·
View notes