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holykillercake · 3 years

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Barrels, Bets and Balls

pairing: Zoro x Drunk!Reader

word count: 1.9k

summary: The Straw hats are presented with millenary rum from an Ancient Giant Tribe and, well, no one is giving you that anymore.

higlight: ¨And then you said ¨maybe I should wear your underwear.¨

warning: Don´t read and drive.

notes: HOLD MY BEER! Hi, guys! This was a lovely request from @roronoatrash for a drunk s/o! I have to say this is my first time writing a drunk character so I´m a bit nervous hahaha I really really hope you like it! Have fun and drink responsibly! <3 @vemuabhi

𝕷𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖘, 𝖗𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖘, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊!

¨Agh!¨ you mumbled when you tried to lift your head from the pillow. It felt like the Thousand Sunny had run over you a thousand times.

¨Hm?¨

¨Regret ... mhbeh ... thing...¨ your mouth was so dry that talking became almost impossible.

¨What´s that?¨ Zoro asked, definitely amused by your deplorable state.

¨Hmmm... I don´t... regret... anything.¨

¨Of course you don´t. You don´t remember anything.¨ he shifted on the bed, making it look like a black hole was opening in the mattress. ¨Here, take this.¨ He handed you something.

¨I don´t need your pity... ma-marimo.¨

¨This is not pity, Y/N. This is a painkiller. Come on, you´re gonna feel better.¨

When he helped you to sit on the bed, you noticed something stuck to the window, preventing the sun from entering and blinding you. The greenette removed a few locks of hair that laid plastered across your face before helping you with the herculean task of taking the pill.

¨If the stupid cook is not dead he must have made coffee.¨ he stood up, grabbing your slippers and placing them in front of you.

In the meantime, your mind tried to gather whatever useful information you had to understand what had happened, but everything was a void blank.

¨You ok?¨ he asked, hand on the doorknob. ¨Do you want me to bring it to you?¨

¨No, it´s ok...¨ you pinched the bridge of your nose, making one last effort to remember at least a crumb of the previous hours. You were fast to give up, though. ¨What happened?¨

¨Uhhh, you got drunk and passed out.¨ he said like it was no big deal.

¨Hmm, ok...¨ you took a few seconds to digest his words ¨but when you say ´you´ you mean ´you me´ or ´you guys´?¨

A chuckle left his mouth ¨Come and you´ll see.¨

The sun shone high in the sky, forcing you to wince back into your room like the time you had your shadow stolen. You stumbled and lowered yourself to the floor, crawling away from the light.

¨You go!¨ you said dramatically, covering your eyes ¨Run away and leave me! Tell everyone... that I fought until the last moment!¨

Zoro scoffed at your poorly performed scene, walking closer to you and squatting, back turned to you. ¨Hop, soldier. We don´t leave nakamas behind, right?¨

Your cheeks reddened with his gesture, and you hid your hungover smitten smile on the crook of his neck. ¨Hold tight, Y//N.¨

Oh, I will. Ouch, my head!

As soon as you reached the main deck, your eyes widened, ignoring the bright sun, and your mouth fell in a perfect O.

¨Oh my freaking... what happened here?¨

If it weren't for the countless barrels, you would have easily thought that you had been chewed up by a sea king.

The Straw Hats were scattered across the deck, mixed with garbage, blankets, and rolls of toilet paper. Their unorthodox positions would definitely grant them a stiff neck.

Zoro carried you to the kitchen where you found Usopp and Chopper talking at the kitchen table.

¨... like I fasted in a desert for forty nights, and then I survived... a buster call. And like... all of the battleships were pointed at me. And I was catching fire before that.¨ you heard Usopp whine to the doctor, who wrapped some bandages on him.

¨Oi, who made coffee?¨ Zoro asked purposely loud.

¨SHHHH!¨ you and the sniper hissed at him.

¨Sanji did.¨ Chopper answered ¨Oh, Y/N, how are you feeling?¨

¨Like my heart is beating in my head.¨

¨At least there´s a heartbeat.¨ the swordsman replied, putting you close to a chair so you could take a seat. ¨Hm, Chopper, I saw the cook dead outside.¨

¨Yeah, he made coffee and then passed out again.¨ Chopper discreetly pointed at Usopp´s bandages.

¨He passed out and spilled hot coffee on me!¨ he roared, stopping midway to whine.

¨But you two look pretty good, though.¨ You referred to Chopper and Zoro.

Not Usopp, definitely not Usopp.

¨Night watch. I didn´t drink last night.¨ the doctor sighed, relieved.

¨And I can handle my alcohol.¨ the greenette bragged, placing a steaming cup of coffee in front of you.

¨What happened anyway?¨

¨Oh! You don´t remember too, Y/N? That millenary rum was really strong!¨ Chopper asked, fascinated by the effects of the beverage.

¨Millenary rum?¨

¨Yeah! It was a gift from an Ancient Giant Tribe!¨

¨Giant tribe?¨ you kept repeating every word he said, double-checking to see if you were not hearing things.

¨Y/N, what´s the last thing you remember?¨

¨Hmm, let me see...¨ you rested your elbows on the table, hands covering your eyes. Wow, even thinking hurts.

<~>

¨I swear to God, Tony! When Luffy falls into the water, you can not jump after him!¨ you yelled, panting from climbing back to the ship and soaking wet of salty water.

He pouted and whined. You only called him ¨Tony¨ when you were upset with him.

¨So-Sorry Y/N... AaaAgh...¨ his voice trembled, and you couldn´t help but soften a little.

¨Ugh, forget it.¨ you laid down on the grass and sighed, the reindeer on your belly ¨Are you alright, Chopper?¨

¨Y-Yeah...¨

Zoro emerged a few seconds later, carrying Luffy on his shoulder.

You had engaged in a fight against some bandits who were causing trouble on an island called Gran Brabados. From what you could understand, they were descendants of the Ancient Giant Tribe who emancipated from Elbaf after years of conflict.

¨I don´t wanna be rude, but¨ Usopp spoke to one of them ¨I thought giants were warriors. Like Broggy and Dory. Those guys fought for over 100 years!¨

¨Well, most of us are, but some are not. That's why we left Elbaf.¨ the giant said ¨We're not interested in war, we're interested in rum!¨

All of you stopped for a second, wondering if you heard the same thing.

¨Eh?¨ you spoke.

¨We don´t make war! We make rum!¨ he threw his huge hands in the air, chest puffing out of pride.

¨Oi, really? Give us some!¨ Zoro immediately threw Luffy on the floor and ran towards the giant. Next thing you knew, the giant burst into laughter.

¨Gabababa!¨ he hunched as he laughed ¨Sorry, but tiny people like you can't handle it! Gababababa!¨

You were not sure what offended you the most, he calling you all, who just saved their asses, weak or having to dodge the huge drops of saliva that came out of his mouth.

After insisting a lot, he ended up giving in, presenting the straw hats with barrels and barrels of millenary rum. Yeah, millenary. Rum distilled for one thousand years, or at least that is what he said.

The celebration didn´t take long to begin. Because Luffy had decided to set sail that same day, you would all be bathed with a pleasant sunset as you partied.

¨Wow!¨ you shouted after chugging the first tankard. ¨Oooohh, this is good booze!¨ you shook your head, already feeling the kick.

¨Girl, you should go easy on this. It´s super strong.¨ Franky said, making you scoff at him, possessed by some waspish Viking demon.

¨And here I thought you were hard-boiled.¨

¨What?¨

¨O-Oi, Y/N...¨ Usopp said, worried, sipping his drink.

¨Haven´t you learned anything with Tom-san?¨ you clicked your tongue ¨Meh, I guess I´ll be the one making things with a DON around here!¨ you chugged more of the rum.

The shipwright glared at you with a red beam coming out of his left eye. You remember questioning yourself for a second. Maybe you had said too much, but it was just for a brief second before you insulted someone else.

Back at the kitchen table, flashes of the events from the last night began to pop in your mind. Guilt and embarrassment gushed over you, making you twist and cringe.

¨And then you said ¨maybe I should wear your underwear.¨ Chopper shivered as he quoted your words.

¨Nooo...¨ you cried out.

¨It gets worse, Y/N.¨

¨What?! How?!¨

¨Because after that,¨ Zoro started to speak, and you saw him struggle to stop a smile from cracking. That was not a good sign. ¨you said "your balls are so small Robin could have grabbed them with one hand!¨

The men laughed and slapped the table as you looked for a place to bury your head or a knife to stab yourself in the heart.

¨WHY DIDN´T YOU STOP ME?¨ you yelled, pulling your boyfriend by the collar and shaking him.

He placed a hand on your forehead, a silly thing he did every time you got too nervous. ¨Oi, you´re a big girl. You know what you´re doing.¨

¨Noo, obviously I don´t!¨ He smiled.

He would not be the one to tell you, but he did have to stop Franky from Radical Beam-ing the hell out of you several times. For some reason, you were very keen on insulting the cyborg's masculinity.

Another thing he wouldn´t tell you was that he didn´t touch the rum in the last night. He decided to remain sober and look after you, making sure you would not kill someone or get yourself killed.

However, despite all the trouble you gave him, he recognized your strength. Straw hat after straw hat, you managed to defeat everyone in a stupid drinking contest.

The biggest achievement was to drag Luffy into the game since he dislikes the taste of alcohol. When he denied being part of it, you teased him by saying,¨I think you are just scared, Luffy. You know what, maybe I should be the Captain of this ship! Maybe, I will be the Pirate King!¨

That was about the sixth punch Zoro took for you. Or because of you.

The darker the night fell, the wilder you all got. And then insults began to come from every direction to every direction. You were arguing, then laughing, then crying and apologizing. If it wasn´t for Zoro, Chopper would have had a heart attack.

¨Nami, you thief! Give me back my queen, or I´ll be forced to shoot a Bidori Moshi at you!¨ Usopp yelled, holding a bunch of cards in his hands.

¨Oi, Usopp! How dare you speak with a lady like that?! I´ll kick you in the face!¨

¨Bring it on, Sanji! I eat eggplants like you for breakfast every day! AND IT´S GOD USOPP FOR YOU!¨

¨Zoro...¨ Chopper cried, falling close to where the swordsman was sitting. ¨W-What are we going to do?¨

¨Uh? Ah, sit back and relax. You know these guys, they are ju-¨

¨Y/N-san, may I see your panties?¨

¨Well, too bad for you I´m not weari-¨

¨OI! Y/N!¨ Zoro dashed over, throwing you on his shoulder.

That was about the first punch Brook took for you. Or, again, because of you.

And then, as the number of biological hazards began to decline, managing the situation became easier and easier. Chopper took care of the fallen drunken, and Zoro threw blankets over them.

In the end, it was you and Luffy. You were still arguing about the things you said earlier. Both of you were exhausted but didn´t want to give in. The argument only ended when you withdrew your words, saying that he would be the one to become King of the Pirates.

Luffy fell dead asleep immediately, and Zoro took the cue to approach you. ¨Hey, Y/N. Our time, let´s go?¨

You turned to him and nodded, red cheeks and tired eyes. He had to scoop you up and carry you back to your room since your legs were not part of the equation anymore, and you would let go and fall every time he tried to carry you on his back.

¨Heeey, you´re not drunk!¨ you whined, almost falling asleep. ¨Why aren´t you drunk?¨

¨Cause you drank everything.¨

¨Noo, I can find s´more.¨ you uncovered yourself, trying to get out of bed.

¨I bet you can.¨ he said, covering you again and pulling you closer.

The warmth of his body, altogether with his hand gently rubbing your back, made your system shut down.

¨You know... I can kick your ass... in a drinking contest...¨

¨Yeah,¨ he chuckled ¨I bet you can.¨

That was definitely not true, but for you, well, for you he could pretend it was.

#one piece #oneshot #worst generation #zoro #roronoa zoro #zoro roronoa x reader #zoro x reader #franky #usopp #chopper #luffy #nami #brook #thousand sunny #elbaf #rum #pirate king #opfanfic

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danwhobrowses · 3 years

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One Piece Chapter 1023 - Initial Thoughts

15 Minutes is on the clock

Onigashima reaches the mainland and the fights continue on. Including the Wings of the King vs the Disasters of the Beast

Without further ado, let's get into it

Spoilers for Chapter 1023, Support the Official Release too

Vivi cover page is nice, proper Disney Princess action with Karoo being jealous birb again, but now I have worries because last we heard something went down with Alabasta...all those post-Reverie questions

Back to where we left off with the boys being back in town

Miyagi can you not ominously foreshadow Zoro's future pain please?

Kawamatsu's here to save Zoro from interference, and Hyou's telling the Yakuza not to get in the way of this fight

Marco though is a pensive Pineapple, taking a good long look at King as he recalls Whitebeard telling him about King's race living on the Red Line before the world nobles, Void Century and before stuff

Mention of Gods does fuel one of my old post fan theories, but also fuels that the WG kicked King's race out of the Red Line

Izo though out here saving Marco from being an easy target, tbh Marineford did show he was prone to a surprise attack

Asking Izo if they believe in God though in a raid that may lead to their deaths is kinda irreverent right now though huh?

Queen back to hyping themselves up though

Hm? Is there a limitation to Sanji's raid suit? Sanji's saying he feels weird

Zoro wasting no time to banter with it though, saving Sanji from King as Sanji returns the favour with Queen

Queen does make a valid point though, as much as Sanji expresses that he is unenhanced by Germa he can also set himself on fire, I do wonder if it is just part of that enhancement in there that he expresses as his 'fiery hot passion'

Lunarian though, that must be King's species' name: moon people again I bet which feeds my fan theories

Also since we mentioned Germa again what happened to them? Jimbei made it out after all and I wanna see me some alive and well Baeju

I would issue doubt on Queen's claim that their enhancements are beyond Vegapunk's, given how little we know of Vegapunk after all

King's got a special sword too, it can change its edge to be teethy which he used to ensnare Zoro's swords

Wado saves Zoro's face from eating King's spiked fist though

King does make a fair point though, traditional weapons are romanticized but a fight's about getting every advantage you can, Zoro at least respects that since King never claimed to be a Swordsman, while also reminding King that he could be a feral bastard too

Kinda gave me mini Mr. 1 fight vibes there

Oh here we go, potential Zoro lineage time

Kawamatsu and Hyou muse over how Zoro was like Ushimaru when he was young, even down to his style (though that could be more Shimotsuki Koushiro's doing since he's Zoro's master)

Also Ushimaru was Ryuma's direct descendant, which means that 1. Ryuma banged, 2. Swordsmanship runs in the blood and 3. Ryuma banged

Also Ryuma also had the one eye, and it does seem pretty mythical that a swordsman of similar skill and stature returns Shusui back to Wano (even though this should mean that Shusui would be Zoro's birthright and he was kinda forced into relinquishing it)

Also worth reminding that Kozaburo was Kuina's grandpa so there may only be loose relations if Zoro is a Shimotsuki too, we don't exactly know how Kozaburo and Ushimaru are related if it's by blood or clan, plus I still wonder about Tashigi

Over to Jack vs Inu though, and Jack's hybrid form is just...weird

I did not need to see an Elephant head with abs you know Oda!

Both are pretty tired, as Jack mocks Inu saying he has forgiven Zou for the Raizo stuff, since he already destroyed most of it

Inu though with the shoulder toss, reminding Jack that they had to make these sacrifices to get to here

But we're getting the epic speech, and the hole in the roof caused by Ashura's sacrifice is changing Inu back into Su Long

Same thing is happening with Neko, turning Su Long in front of Carrot and Wanda (who I guess are covering from the moon) as he stares down Perospero

And I'm glad Neko's pointing out that Pedro's sacrifice is valid. I truthfully always felt a bit iffy about people saying that Carrot's desire to avenge Pedro was ill-found because 'Pedro killed himself'. Had Pedro not sacrificed himself then Brook and Chopper would've been dead by candy and Big Mom would've obliterated the rest on the ship

Raizo and Megaforehead though prelude with the mention of maturity, that everyone - even the Akazaya - needed time to mature into who they wanted to be

Down to the surface though and the Heart Pirates are on high alert/panic, they think Kaido's here

But it's Momo, and he looks magnificent

Shinobu's aged him up to 28, the age he'd be had he not been leapt through time, but now she's upset he looks like Kaido

There's new fire in Momo's eyes though, the return ascent begins!

Can you feel that? It feels like the last stretch before the ultimate battle of Wano

Sanji and Zoro vs King and Queen hopefully will remain a tag bout, but I am curious as to King's abilities and what's affecting Sanji in terms of the raid suit. It's not bad to have a limitation but this is the first we've heard of it after seeing him use it 4 times. I don't hate Zoro being a Shimotsuki, though I do feel like we could've built to this, plus we're still lacking in the how.

One wonders what role Marco will now play, and whether Tiny Tiny Chopper is due to recover. We haven't heard from the others for a bit, nor CP0 nor Yamato. Our Pineapple does have unfinished business with Edward Weevil tbf so he could make it out, Izo may be a variable in that, they've yet to learn of Kiku's fate.

Also we never did see who that mystery person was did we? Still could be Hiyori

Marco's musing about gods does feel like we're gonna get more about King, and more lore of the world that Robin will love to soak up like a sponge, Oda have been leaving these seeds since Skypeia, and where there are Gods, there are Devils.

We are however getting major death flags from the minks, one last turn to Su Long to enable their efforts. I like how Ashura's sacrifice is not in vain because of this though, it makes me wonder if there's a slither of hope for Kin and Kiku. If anything though the minks will die from exhaustion rather than being defeated, Su Long eats away at you after all, it's probably gonna be traumatizing for Carrot a little but I hope we see some resolve out of her more like when she was in Zou and WCI, I still want her for Nakama.

And then the final coup de grace, giant dragon Momo, it's one hell of a panel and it means we're bringing Luffy back into the fight. But the extent of Momo's ripening is only in body remember, in mind he's still young. But now we have the setup for the final fight between Luffy and Kaido, I'll expect in that time we'll have to try and finish off everything else with the Akazaya, reconvening the Straw Hats, King, Queen, Big Mom, Kid, Law, Killer, Hawkins, Apoo and Drake.

Act's not over yet, less than 15 minutes until Onigashima Falls.

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yukipri · 3 years

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Marco’s Bauble Part 7 - a One Piece Mermaid AU Text Story

I ended up spending most of this past weekend setting up the Mermaid AU on AO3, so I do hope y’all will check it out over there!

Please note that on AO3, this Marco’s Bauble story is going under the title On the Courtship of Monkey D. Luffy. I didn’t really know where this series was going when I began writing it, and “Marco’s Bauble” was most definitely a starting point, but it’s expanded well beyond that now, as you’ll probably see in this update ^ ^; I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll rename all the parts on Tumblr or not.

BUT in the meantime, I’ll continue posting updates in advance here on Tumblr (and on Patreon even further in advance ;D), so here’s an update for this week!

In which Sabo confronts Koala.

Continues off of, and should be read after:

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble Part 1

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble Part 2

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble Part 3

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble, Part 4

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble, Part 5

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble, Part 6

Hmm, Koala thinks. So this probably counts as a "kabedon."

A kabedon, according to the young new recruits who'd explained it to her, is a situation in which one person, ideally tall and attractive, leans over a second, ideally smaller person, boxing them against a wall with their arms, essentially pinning them in place. Koala thinks it sounds like menacing posturing, but the recruits insisted that if done by the right person, it's a terribly titillating scenario, the kind you'd find in romance stories.

It happens to be the situation that Koala finds herself in now, with her back against the side of Merry's cabin as Sabo looms over her, effectively blocking all exits with his arms braced against the wall on either side of her.

Sabo, Koala grudgingly thinks, probably not only qualifies, but is likely the recruits' very definition of tall and attractive.

Right now, he's doing that thing where his eyes are half-mast, dark and unreadable as they peer down at Koala through the curtain of blond locks that have fallen across his face. It's a look that Koala knows has half of Baltigo swooning, and she's heard people call it Chief's Sexy Look.

Koala feels very strongly that those are a poor choice of words, because from personal experience, she knows it's a look that's usually followed immediate, brutal interrogation that often ends in screams and excessive bloodshed.

"Koala," he breathes, in that voice that has stolen the hearts of half the Revolutionary Army, and has convinced more than one unfortunate soul that perhaps, they might survive this encounter after all.

But Koala knows better.

Because his next words are, surprise surprise, "What are you hiding from me about my Luffy?"

He smiles then, and it looks misleadingly gentle, and Koala can see why strangers may mistake him for a benevolent princely gentleman.

But Koala knows Sabo. And all she sees is the manic sadism behind the oh so very fake expression.

She cringes, because no, there is absolutely nothing romantic or exciting about this situation at all. All she feels is Doom.

"Hmm?" she says, keeping her hands behind her back so he can't see them twist. In these situations, Koala's more than well aware that the more she talks, the more she incriminates herself.

Many who observe their partnership are under the impression that Sabo's just the overpowered guy who beats people up and destroys shit, while Koala provides intel. And while it's true that Koala has intel, Sabo's the one who often personally extracts it from their most stubborn sources.

In other words, what Sabo wants, he usually gets. It's usually a comforting thought, but not today.

"Hmm?" Sabo parrots back, eyes lazily tracing over her face, and Koala frantically tries to keep her expression neutral as he searches for an opening.

It's like when they were children, Koala thinks, when they played interrogation games with each other as assignments for Inazuma's class. Except this time, it's not Koala's grade on the line. And while Koala knows that her partner would never actually hurt her, he's also very capable of making life pretty miserable for her if she doesn't spill.

And right now, she has a secret she'd really, really like to keep away from Sabo.

The secret being, y'know, the fact that someone proposed to his dearest baby brother.

And even though it's extremely unlikely that Luffy understands the significance behind the gesture, she considers the gift hers, which, for all points and purposes...means she accepted.

Koala does not want Sabo to find out about this, from her, at least right now, before she has more information.

But, Koala glumly remembers, she's never actually managed to win any interrogation games against him.

"You know," he says, voice deceptively light, and Koala wants to groan because here we go. "Luffy and Ace mean the world to me. They're not just my past, they make me who I am. Even when I didn't remember, they were with me, and I was with them. They're everything to me."

Koala won't break. She tries to look for an opening without shifting her eyes, but Sabo's not an amateur and there are no escape routes.

"It would truly be terrible, if something happened to one of them, something that should be stopped, that I could have prevented if only I had known."

He's poking her defenses. He wants her to say, you're blowing this out of proportion, it's not that big a deal, or maybe you're overthinking this. Possibly even lie, I'm not hiding anything, or even counter, what makes you think I'm hiding something?

Koala knows better. Those are all traps, all openings that he'd pounce on, and she's seen him rip people apart for falling for them. Koala won't give him the chance.

He leans in close, and whispers in her ear, voice low and dark in a way that would make his fans cry, and his enemies cry too but for an entirely different reason. "You wouldn't know something that'd prevent me from fulfilling my duties as Luffy's older brother, now would you, Koala?"

Well, Koala thinks snidely, depends on what you consider your brotherly duties, and whether they include homicide and starting a war with an Emperor.

She says, "Mmm."

Sabo, or rather his mouth, smiles. His eyes are a void. Koala's not used to be on the receiving end of this particular stare, and she isn't enjoying a moment of it.

"Alright. If that's how you want to be. Let's figure this out together, now shall we?"

Sabo's voice is calm, exaggeratedly patient, like a therapist. He never talks to Koala like this, but Koala still recognizes this particular tone, and cringes as she realizes which interrogation pattern he's chosen. It's one she's ill equipped to counter at the moment, and he no doubt knows it.

Koala braces herself. Blank face, she tells herself, even breathing. He's using his stupid over-powered Observation Haki to keep track of your pulse.

"Well," he begins, "I know it's already about Luffy, because you're more nervous about me talking about her than Ace." It's stated as fact, and Koala blinks rapidly to moisten her eyes because she knows the real deal's starting now, and she'll have to avoid blinking when it might give her away.

"And it must be something you found out during your Fishman Karate sessions, because you don't have any other time together, at least when I'm not watching."

Koala isn't remotely surprised that he's monitoring everyone; after all, she's been doing the same. She wants to sigh but keeps it in.

"It's probably something physical, because Lu can't keep secrets if she thinks of them as secrets, so it might have been something you saw...a scar, or a mark on her body? No? Then an object she has on her...Ah, there we go."

Fuck you, I didn't give you any tells, Koala thinks indignantly, but she knows that expressing any annoyance will only confirm his guesses, and continues to refuse to speak.

"You've been going to the kitchen more often than usual, but not during meal times, or even prep times, but rather lulls...times that you have no business in the kitchen, and times where only cooks are present, cleaning up or otherwise doing tasks that don't require their full attention...the perfect time to chat."

Maybe I wanted a snack, Koala thinks, but keeps her mouth shut, because Sabo already knows when and how she snacks. This interrogation really isn't fair.

"And as for the cooks in question...well, if it were Sanji, I'd just ask him myself, but you knew I wouldn't do that, right, Koala? You know I could get it out of him, so if it was him, he wouldn't know anything of value. But I don't think he's involved at all."

Sabo looks at Koala expectantly. Koala stares right back at him, though her eyes feel very, very dry.

"So the question now is, why would my dearest partner want to protect Thatch, Fourth Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and temporary first cook of the ASL Pirates?" Sabo talks as though he's asking himself, but he isn't, and Koala's not fooled. She keeps her face blank. "I doubt it's a personal thing, after all, his intentions towards Luffy couldn't be more obvious, he announces it at least once a day. And given my partner's obvious little lesbian crush, it doesn't seem in her best interests to help him, no?"

This does get a reaction from Koala, and her breath leaves her in a whoosh. Fine, make it personal. If he's figured out this much, it's only a few more steps till the answer, and at this point what does it matter. Koala glares, relishing freeing her face from its mask, and for a moment Sabo's back to his usual self, giving her a cheeky wink as though to say told you so. But then Interrogator!Sabo is back, because he's not quite done yet.

Whatever. She tried, alright. It's not like she owes the Phoenix anything. She leans back against the wall, bringing her arms in front of her chest, and scowls, hoping her expression projects exactly what she thinks of Interrogator!Sabo at the moment. Sabo likewise drops his arms, because he knows she's no longer going to escape.

"You're not protecting Thatch himself, because if you were we could solve it here, and it never needs to get out of hand. So you're protecting someone connected to him. The fact that you're being so stubborn, tells me that it's not just a personal thing, but something that could cause an incident, that would likely affect the Army. Which means, obviously, a Whitebeard pirate.

"But I don't think it's just any Whitebeard pirate. They're someone high profile enough that it would be a big deal if I were to confront them, possibly jeopardizing any potential future alliances the Army forms with them, or drawing the eyes of the World Government. Which, they're already watching us, which makes me think it's gotta be someone even bigger than Thatch..."

Which, of course doesn't leave much.

"It could very well be old man Whitebeard himself," Sabo says, but he's shaking his head. "But something tells me it's not. And I know that some very interesting little blue birds have been stopping by the Merry, likely with letters for Thatch, but possibly also with unsolicited deliveries for my baby brother..."

Your baby brother, chill with your possessiveness, does rubbing it in feel that good? Koala sniffs.

"And as for why it's a big deal...you wouldn't be so secretive over a crush. Everyone on the crew has a crush. That can be dealt with. This is a few steps beyond, something you think would make me mad, right, Koala?”

Sabo pauses a moment, but it's for dramatic effect, because Sabo knows that Koala knows that he already has an answer.

"So tell me, Koala. What did Marco the Phoenix give Luffy to try to claim her as his bride?"

And well, there you have it.

"Bravo," Koala says dryly. "I see you're qualified for your position, Chief. I'll be sure to inform the Boss."

Sabo tips his hat, and even though she allows herself to relax, Koala keeps her eyes trained on her partner.

He's taking this calmer than she expected, to be honest. Interrogator!Sabo still hasn't fully faded from his face, but he's no longer giving off sadistic vibes, and has that little frown that tells Koala he's still sorting through his thoughts. His ability to remain composed is likely affected by the fact that they're still in Paradise, and the Whitebeard Pirates and the New World are still quite a ways away.

Which is good, because it means Sabo can't just impulsively cause a massive incident on the spot. But it's also bad, because it means he's got more time to plot, and Sabo can come up with some pretty devastating things if given the opportunity.

"Sabo, I barely know anything myself, and neither does Thatch," Koala says, finally willing to speak. "I'm working on getting more information. Don't plan anything rash yet. It could all be a misunderstanding."

Sabo slowly nods, still quiet. Koala sighs.

This might be a good time to bring up a certain topic, she realizes. She'd been thinking about it for a while now, but had wanted to give him more time.

She first thought about it when the night after he regained his memories, she sees Sabo slip away from the Merry to pursue the ship that's transporting the slavers who tried to sell Luffy at the auction house. The slavers have already been passed in the hands of Army agents, all of the enslaved have been freed and are on their way to safety, and Luffy's back with her crew. Their job should have been over.

Sabo comes back before dawn, accompanied by Ace who had likely transported him with Striker. He seems calmer than the night before, but Koala doesn't miss that his gloves are still damp from recently being washed.

There've been other incidents too, in the short period they've traveled together. Koala's seen Sabo dangerously close to snapping (and actually snapping) more during the past few weeks than their entire decade together. And on one hand, it's understandable, but on the other...

"You know," Koala begins, as gently as possible. "she's no longer the child you left behind. She's an adult. Even if this ends up being nothing, she may still find someone, one day. What are you going to do then?"

If Luffy's in physical danger, protecting her is one thing. But what if it's something that she chooses?

The change is subtle, but Koala notices when the last of the Chief of Staff fades from Sabo, as his head tilts downward ever so slightly. And all of a sudden he reminds Koala all too much of the tiny, battered child who stared at himself in the mirror when he thought everyone was asleep, touching his scars and asking, Who are you?

"I can't lose her, I can't lose either of them," Sabo says quietly, and he overlaps completely with the lost child, and ah, Koala thinks, because she gets it.

That child, that self who was missing for so long, is back now, inside Sabo where he always belonged, where he always existed but couldn't be recognized. That child now takes up so much space, too much space, and still hasn't been fully reconciled with the adult that Sabo's grown up to be. Simpler, childish emotions and desires that feel too vibrant and raw, clashing with the adult's more weathered world view, aggravated further by all the darkness that Sabo's seen in their line of work.

Sabo's less concerned about Ace, Koala knows, because even though Sabo loves both his brothers, Ace is like his other half. They don't protect each other, but function seamlessly as a single unit, a unit with one priority that stands above all else.

Luffy.

Luffy, who as a child, Sabo was able to protect from anything and everything in their isolated microcosm. Luffy, who as an adult, Sabo knows all too well is more vulnerable than ever, as proven by the very situation in which they reunited.

A gilded glass tank, hidden away behind dusty curtains, with a dark, motionless shape crumpled at the bottom. Chains, chains, and chains upon bruised skin, and bubbles rising from parted lips, getting smaller and smaller as she slowly fades...

That was bad enough, but Koala doubts Ace or any of the others know exactly what the fate of a captured mermaid is, at least in the way that Koala and Sabo do.

Koala understands, she really does.

But she also knows the importance of freedom, not just to Sabo, but likely to Luffy and Ace as well.

"Would it be losing her?" she asks, and child!Sabo flinches.

"We vowed to be free," Sabo says, and he still sounds lost, like he doesn't know what the word means anymore. "And we will be." His hat shadows his eyes, and Koala can't imagine how they look at that moment. "But I don't want her to go where I can't follow."

"Then follow," Koala says, because what else is there to say? "Follow, if that's your freedom. But you can't stop hers."

"I know."

She couldn't have known how Sabo would take her words.

Part 8, we see more of Thatch.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

As always, any comments are immensely appreciated and help motivate me to create more for this AU! ;A;

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

#OnePieceMermaidAU #One Piece Mermaid AU #fic #text headcanons #Sabo #Koala #genderbend #longpost #long post #pre-SaboLu #should I still even post fics on tumblr or is that a waste of my time? ^ ^;;;

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laws-yellow-submarine · 3 years

Text

Together With Fruit Ch. 9 (Snippet)

Omgomgomg I actually finished something omg

Obviously this is not the full chapter, but it’s a pretty major chunk of it, and because I’m just so proud of myself and happy that I actually got something I set out to write forever ago FINISHED, I am posting this snippet here as a one-shot (it’s...more than a snippet really, it’s like 4000+ words, and it’s mostly unedited so...ye’ve been warned lol)

Word Count: 4199 (yikes)

Enjoy! Hopefully I’ll have the rest of the chapter finished within the next week or so!

“We’re finally nearing the Grand Line…” Nami muttered, pointing at a spot on the map. “It looks like the only way into it is through Reverse Mountain here.”

“Reverse Mountain?” Hazel murmured, peering over the girl’s shoulder at the point where the seas intersect.

“What a pain. Can’t we just sail straight through it?” Zoro groaned, glaring from where he sat leaning against the rail. Sanji shook his head.

“Nope, from what the geezer told me, that’s the only way boats can enter.”

“How come?” Usopp asked.

“Cause it’s supposedly dangerous.”

“But how come?!”

“I don’t know any more than that!” Sanji yelled, glaring at the sniper.

“Boys, please…” Hazel scolded, trying to stop any fights before they could occur.

“The reason for that is-”

“Alright! I got it!” Luffy interrupted Nami, pointing at the map. “Then let’s head straight into it!”

“Are you even paying attention?!”

“But it sounds fun!” Luffy insisted, grin never wavering. “Plus it’d feel way better going straight into it!”

“Fun or not, I’d like to actually make it to the Grand Line before we die,” Hazel told him, side-eyeing her brother’s enthusiasm. Nami shared the sentiment.

“Talking to you makes me feel like I’m gonna go crazy…” the navigator whined, palm to her forehead in exasperation. Luffy soldiered on, ignoring the women’s concerns.

“Anyways, let’s stop at an island first and get meat! Meat! Meat!” Nami reached a finger out to point at a spot on the map, and Luffy and Hazel both peered closer at the paper.

“There’s a famous city on this island...Loguetown.”

“Loguetown?” Luffy asked, puzzled look on his face as he tried to think. “What? Is it famous for its meat?”

“Also known as the city of the beginning and the end…” Zoro chimed in, thoughtful look on his face. “I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that before.”

“It’s where Gold Roger, the former Pirate King, was born,” Hazel supplied, appearing somber, “and where he was executed.”

“The town where the King of the Pirates died...” Even Luffy’s voice was tame, contemplation clear in his eyes. Nami swung her gaze to meet his, sly smile finding its way across her cheeks.

“Wanna go?”

“Yeah! I wanna see it!” As he spoke, his voice grew more excited, though it never lost its reverence. “I wanna see the town where the man who got the One Piece - everything this world has to offer - was born and then died!” Luffy stood up, grin fixed firmly back in place. “Nami! Set sail for Loguetown!”

As the crew scrambled to set their course, Hazel smiled at her brother’s excitement, though she didn’t share the enthusiasm. She didn’t really harbor any opinions on the former Pirate King, good or bad; there just wasn’t enough information available on who the man truly was. She had asked her grandfather once, considering what she knew about his connection to Ace, but after hours of pestering the only thing he’d told her was “don’t believe everything you hear”. Other than that cryptic statement, she knew about as much as anyone else: he was born in Loguetown, he circumnavigated the entire world, then turned himself in (to her grandfather, no less), and was executed in his hometown. For someone who was so famous, you’d think there’d be more to know about him.

Hazel looked down at the notebook in her hand, blank since Shells Town except for the notes she’d taken. She wasn’t going to let Luffy fall into that same level of anonymity. Sure, the boy couldn’t care less about the fame; his views on being the Pirate King weren’t shared by most other pirates, though she found his ideals to be more admirable. What she really didn’t want to happen, though, was for her baby brother’s name to be smeared by the media, with nothing to counteract it.

Which meant she had a lot of work to do.

“Well, before we get to Loguetown, I have to get to work. Which means I’m shutting myself in my room until I’ve finished writing about our adventure so far!” Hazel stated for all to hear. She ignored the odd looks sent her way. “So no one bug me, ok?” When she’d received satisfactory nods, Hazel made her way to the girls’ room, shut the door, and plopped herself down at the writing desk. She ripped out her pages of notes so she could refer to them easily as she wrote, then opened to a blank page, her pencil hovering above the paper.

An hour later and the page was still blank.

Hazel’s pencil had moved, at least. It’d been set on the desk, balanced on her nose (a failure on her part, but no one could see it so she wasn’t too pressed), twirled between her fingers, tucked behind her ear as she stretched in her chair (and changed position at least three times; currently she had her feet on the back of the chair with her head leaning on the desk). She’d doodled little pictures on her note pages; tiny flowers and crude renditions of her crewmates (note to self: hide these so Nami doesn’t see). There’s a reason she hadn’t decided to illustrate this book.

Another hour later and her legs hurt from how much she’d been bouncing them. The page remained blank, her mind void of ideas, and her eyes were fixed on the picture frame hanging on the far wall. Maybe some food would help? She didn’t think she ate much at breakfast…

As Hazel made her way on deck, she couldn’t help but smile at the sight that greeted her. Nami was lounging in the sun on the top deck, being served some fancy drink from their newest member. Zoro was, surprise, napping beneath the mast, his swords propped in his lap. Luffy sat on the other side of the ship, watching Usopp practice with his slingshot. Oh, that could be fun!

“Whatcha guys doin’?” Hazel asked, sneaking up behind the sniper, causing Luffy to laugh at the boy’s frightful shriek. “Oops! Sorry, Usopp!” He just glared at her in return.

“Usopp’s practicing his slingshot! See? We set up some targets against the other side of the deck, he’s really good!”

“Well, you see Luffy, I’ve been using a slingshot for at least 25 years,” Usopp boasted, ignoring the fact that he was only 17. “Which of course makes me an expert sniper!”

“25 years, huh?” Hazel snarked. “Well, mister “expert”, whaddaya say to a little contest? The closer to a bullseye gets you more points. Whoever gets the most points wins.”

“Uhh, ok, Hazel. But where are you gonna get a slingshot?” Hazel just pointed to Luffy. Specifically his arms. “Hey, now, wait a minute! You can’t use him!”

“Why not?” Hazel and Luffy asked, both with blank looks on their faces. The sniper spluttered.

“Because-! He’s not-! And you-!”

“Ok, look - we’re not going for power here, just accuracy, so it’ll still be a fair contest. And we’ll use the same ammo, ok?” She left no room for him to argue back, immediately grabbing one of the pellets from his hand and positioning her brother. Usopp rolled his eyes behind her, but sidled up next to the two, aiming his own slingshot at the first target.

“Ready...aim...fire!” Usopp let the pellet fly, smacking the target right in the center.

“Hey, nice job Usopp! But I’m gonna tie it up right here!” Hazel ribbed, tying Luffy’s fingers together to form a sling. She pulled them back, tongue poking out between her teeth as she aimed carefully. When she felt confident in her position she nodded, waiting for Usopp to give the signal, and then let go.

The target shattered to pieces.

“Oh fuck-!”

“WHAT ARE YOU THREE DOING?!” Nami’s shrill voice called, causing all three to wince.

“Luffy did it!” Hazel immediately yelled while Usopp checked the ship for damage.

“No I didn’t!”

“Now, Luffy, you know you shouldn’t lie.”

“I’m not-!”

“ENOUGH!” Nami yelled again, interrupting the siblings. “I don’t care who did it, you’re just lucky the ship didn’t get damaged! You and you-” she pointed to Usopp and Luffy “-clean this up! And you!” Nami pointed at Hazel, making the older woman feel suddenly small. “You’re supposed to be writing right now! Not breaking things!”

“Well...you see...the thing is…” Hazel trailed off as Nami continued to glare at her. Huh. She didn’t like being on the receiving end of this. “I was hungry…?”

“Then ask Sanji-kun for a snack and get back to work. You told us not to bother you and we’re listening, take advantage of that!” At Hazel’s huff Nami smiled. “If you’d like, you can sit in the tangerine grove. I find it very relaxing when I need to focus.”

“Hmm...a change of scenery may be helpful. Thanks, Nami,” Hazel smiled, rolling her neck. “I better go bug Sanji.” But Nami held up a hand to stop her.

“Nope! You go sit, I’ll get it. I don’t want you to get distracted again.” The orange-haired girl walked away without another word, and Hazel was forced at that point to just listen to her. She made her way to the upper deck, finding a nice spot under the trees to nestle in. She reopened her notebook to the still blank page, and tapped her pencil against her chin as she tried to focus. The breeze up here was nice, as well as the sounds of her crewmates (Luffy and Usopp had made a game out of cleaning up her mess). The smell of tangerines wafted over her, muddying her senses. One of her curls was tickling her forehead.

She’d made zero headway by the time Sanji appeared with a snack.

“Hazel-chwan!~ I’ve brought you a plate of delicious sandwiches, and a fresh glass of cabernet sauvignon,” the man said, brandishing a platter on one hand and a glass of deep red liquid in the other. She looked to the glass curiously. Despite having practically lived in a bar half her life, she’d never actually tried wine. Her alcohol tended to be of a rougher variety.

“Oh, yeah, alcohol. That’ll help,” Hazel muttered, hoping Sanji didn’t think her rude. For all she knew, it would get the creative juices flowing, so to speak. “Thank you, Sanji.” She smiled at the cook, his feet practically floating off the ground in happiness. He turned to leave her, and Hazel tentatively took a sip of the wine...only to immediately cringe when the bitter liquid hit her tongue. She glanced around in panic, hoping the blond didn’t see, and snuck the glass behind her back, hidden under the trees. “Ooh! Sanji, wait up!” she called, wine forgotten as she grabbed her plate and ran after him.

“Yes, my love?” Sanji asked, twirling around to gaze at her through heart-shaped eyes.

“I just realized that I never asked about what happened at the Baratie! After we left?” The cook’s expression had switched to confusion at her question. “In fact,” she continued, following him into the galley, “I don’t actually know that much about you. Tell me, what’s your dream? Your motivation? Your tragic backstory? Spare me no detail!”

For the first time since they’d met, Sanji wasn’t looking at her with adoration. In fact, he almost looked a little scared. His eyes darted around for half a second while she pulled out her best pout, gray eyes shining like a puppy begging for table scraps. Later, she’d chide herself for being so mean. After all, she used to practically torture Ace with that expression. But for now, she needed answers.

“Well…” Sanji started, pulling himself together before all the blood rushed out of his nose. “I am merely a humble sea cook, mademoiselle. I fought valiantly for my former home, and for the chance to gaze upon your lovely visage once again.” He flourished into a low bow.

“Uh huh,” Hazel chuckled, an amused smile on her face as she raised a brow. “Definitely humble.” Sanji rose back to standing, an easy grin in place at their shared humor. “Come on, lover boy. Sit with me awhile and tell me a story.”

The two sat and talked for a time, Hazel’s pencil scratching across the pages of her notebook as Sanji divulged all the details he felt comfortable sharing: how Luffy had bartered with Zeff for his freedom, the way he’d swatted projectiles with a single kick. She had a feeling he may’ve been embellishing his actions a bit, but having seen the way he’d toppled part of a building at Arlong Park, she knew it wasn’t all bluster.

He told her of Pearl, the man who’d covered himself in armor, only to lose his mind (and catch fire, apparently) at the first drop of blood. How Gin, the man he’d helped, had taken the old man hostage, and how he’d been willing to die to save his mentor’s dream. Hazel filed away that note for later, planning to ask about the clear devotion Sanji had for the old man, even if the blond tried to hide it behind snark.

She tried not to laugh when Sanji told her Luffy destroyed part of the ship. From what he was telling her, it was actually a brilliant stroke on Luffy’s part, and definitely contributed to Sanji’s outlook on the situation; but the way the blond’s curly brow furrowed over his eyes at the memory was, in her opinion, hilarious.

“So, wait,” Hazel started, pausing Sanji’s tale of his fight with Gin. “How did you come to the Baratie in the first place? Zeff isn’t your father, is he? Why so devoted to preserving his dream?”

Discomfort crossed the cook’s face, as it had earlier, but whether it was his dedication to please the woman in front of him, or because he’d already come this far, he gifted her with the reason. “He saved my life,” was the simple answer. The follow-up nearly brought tears to her eyes.

Hazel reached across the table, covering his hand with her own, and she sent him a soft smile. A light blush dusted his cheeks, and she allowed him to turn away to light a cigarette; she even grabbed the ashtray off the back shelf for him.

Just as they were about to continue, the door to the galley swung open, a rubbery body bouncing its way inside. “Sanji!! Food!” Luffy yelled, head turning frantically before his eyes finally settled on the cook.

“You just ate, you damn animal!” The cook scolded, and the somber mood was broken as Hazel burst into laughter.

“But I’m hungry! Food!”

“I’m busy!” Hazel took that moment to step in.

“It’s alright, Sanji. I can get the rest from you later. If you don’t start dinner soon, we may not have a ship to sail on anymore,” she laughed, drawing Luffy’s attention. The boy leaped onto the bench in front of her, taking Sanji’s place, and glancing at the notebook for a second without reading.

“Whatcha talkin’ about? Whaddaya need Sanji for?”

“He was telling me about your fight with Don Krieg, since I missed it.”

“Oh! I can tell you! There was a boom! And a woosh! And then I went ‘Gum-Gum Bazooka’! And then there was poison gas, but we’re fine, and then everything went boom boom boom boom! And then I got poked a lot! And then-” Hazel tuned out as her brother continued telling her all about the fight with as little detail as possible. Sanji shot her a confounded look over their captain’s shoulder, and the girl replied with a nonchalant shrug. When Luffy finally finished, he looked to his sister expectantly, proud grin wide across his face.

“Thanks Luffy, I’ll make sure to write that down.” The boy nodded, then looked back at her notes from Sanji’s story.

“Looks like you’ve gotten a lot done!” Hazel flinched, grimacing into her palm.

“Yes and no…” Luffy just looked at her, confusion in his eyes, and Hazel gave a heavy sigh. “To be honest, Luff...I don’t really know where to start.”

“At the beginning. Duh.”

“Wow, I never thought about that,” Hazel deadpanned. “And get your finger out of your nose!” As Luffy stuck his tongue out at her, something struck her. Hazel’s eyes widened, an invisible energy urging her hand to move across the paper. “Actually, Luffy, you’re a genius! Thank you!”

She vaguely heard him say something in agreement, but her mind was too focused on the idea it had. Start at the beginning...she was surprised the thought hadn’t occurred to her earlier; after all, she’d only just told the story a week ago.

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

Foosha Village had always been a peaceful town. Even when pirates had settled their sails at its docks the year previous, the villagers had yet to deal with much past the occasional bandit or two. Our lives had been much the same, short as they were; filled with fun and laughter and play. Then one day, the stuff of legends became real, and peace would be known no more.

The sun had shown brightly that morning, though my brother and I had already been up for hours. We always had trouble sleeping the closer to Shanks’ departure. In only a short time, the red-headed man had wormed his way into our lives, and our hearts, and my brother especially was determined to join him this time.

So it was that we stood on the deck of the Red-Hair Pirate’s ship, the hustle and bustle of supplies and crates being loaded around us. A few of the men were singing songs - definitely inappropriate considering the children in their company - but we’d already spent the last seven years in a bar. There was nothing in those songs we hadn’t heard before.

I had been listening to Benn Beckman’s tale of their last voyage when Shanks’ voice had called our attention to the figurehead. Standing atop the dragon’s maw, my brother Luffy stood glaring down at our pirate friends. Unfortunately, none of us had taken his declaration of strength seriously. Not until he drove the knife beneath his eye.

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

The paragraphs flew quickly out of her hand, the day in question clear in her mind. Hazel took a moment to shake out her wrist, feeling stiff as she read over her work so far. She liked it, she really did. Now to keep up this momentum.

The door opened once again, and Usopp and Nami wandered in, talking about something she couldn’t hear. Hazel was still glaring at the page, chewing her cheek as she thought about how to word her next sentence. She heard Sanji mention dinner would be ready soon, Luffy’s excitement sounding through the room, then Usopp’s hiss for him to be quiet.

“Don’t distract her! She’s scary when she’s mad!” the boy whimpered out, much to Luffy’s amusement.

“No she’s not!” he laughed, drawing the sniper’s ire.

“You didn’t think that when she made you take a bath!” Hazel stifled a snort.

“Speaking of which,” Nami chimed in, holding a hand to her nose. “How long ago was that?”

“Actually, Luffy, you are due for one. Zoro too,” Hazel said, looking up at her surprised crewmates. What, did they think she couldn’t hear them at all? “Why don’t you go wash up before dinner. Please?” Luffy groaned, glaring at the navigator, but dutifully made his way to the bathroom. Despite what he said, he didn’t want to push his sister. Again.

Hazel took that moment to stand up, stretching her back with a loud pop, grabbed her notebook, and made her way outside to tell their grungy swordsman his bath was after dinner. She couldn’t see him at first when she stepped outside, but after glancing around for a moment, she finally spotted him. She blinked when she saw his bare back, mesmerized for a moment at the way the muscles rippled as he did push-up after push-up. A second later, she blinked the distraction away, and walked down the steps to the grass-haired man.

“Hey, your turn for a bath after dinner,” she told him, practically hearing him grit his teeth at the notion. “Dinner’s actually almost done, by the way, so you may wanna wrap it up here.”

“Not done,” he grunted, prompting her to raise a brow in his direction.

“Well find a way to be done. We’re hungry, and you’re sweaty.”

“If I’m gonna get stronger, I can’t cut training short. I need more weight.” His gray eyes swung up to hers, and Hazel got the distinct sense he was sizing her up.

“What do you want me to do about that?” She regretted asking the instant she said it. Zoro gestured to his back. His extremely sweaty back.

“Climb on.”

“Excuse me? What are you insinuating here?” She crossed her arms, trying to decide if she needed to hit him for calling her fat or not. She caught him rolling his eyes.

“You’re all muscle, it’s heavier. Climb on.” Hazel chewed her lip, weighing the pros and cons. Then, deciding she had nothing to lose except her hygiene (and really, she could do with a bath herself), she stepped closer to him, cautiously sitting down when he paused for her. He reached his arm around, causing a startled squeak as he adjusted her position, then he resumed his training, a new strain in his breath.

While he worked, Hazel puzzled once again over her notebook. Disappointment flowed through her as she stared at the four lone paragraphs, the struggle for where to take the story next staying her hand. She’d gotten nothing done today, and it was difficult not to take it to heart.

“What are you sighing about up there?” her cushion grunted below her. Hazel rolled her eyes, but decided to humor him by answering anyway.

“I’ve been working on this all day, and somehow I have nothing to show for it.” Zoro was silent except for his heavy breathing, but for some reason she pushed on. “What kind of record-keeper am I? What kind of storyteller can’t tell a damn story? I don’t even have to make it all up, it’s all stuff that happened…” A puff of air escaped her as her eyes began to sting. “Maybe I’m not cut out for this…”

She hadn’t meant to say it, at least not out loud, and was startled when her chair suddenly stood up. She cried out as she fell, but before she could hit the floor, Zoro’s arms came out to steady her. She looked up at him in shock, affronted at the small glare he sent her way. “Read it out loud,” he said, pointing to the little book in her hands.

“Eh?!” Hazel shrieked, appalled at the very notion of any living being actually hearing her work out loud.

“Read it out loud,” Zoro said again, shrugging his shirt back on. “Then I can tell you if it’s shitty.”

“No way! It’s not ready for human consumption yet!” she yelled, glaring as he sat below the mast. “Besides, who are you to tell me if it’s shit? You wouldn’t know good literature if it waved a sword at you and said ‘boy, speak your name’!” Zoro rolled his eyes at the reference, but leveled her with a steady gaze as it dawned on her the trick he was trying to pull. “Stop it, it’s mine. Why should I share it with you?”

“Because I like the way you tell stories.” He said it so simply, like it didn’t carry nearly the weight for him that it did for her. Hazel felt the blood rush to her cheeks, but she didn’t look away. Something held her gaze on his, something she couldn’t possibly name.

“So how does me reading it aloud help me write it?” Her voice was so quiet, she was surprised he could even hear it.

“Just write it how you’d say it,” he answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And when he said it like that, it did seem obvious, and Hazel could kick herself for not thinking of it sooner. Before she knew it, she felt herself nodding, sitting beside him beneath the sail.

“Foosha Village had always been a peaceful town….” she began, reading from the beginning, and surprising herself when her voice continued past the last paragraph. He’d heard the story before, but still Zoro sat, listening with rapt attention. Her voice slowed as she wrote, not allowing herself to forget what she’d said, what phrases she used that flowed from her mouth like water.

At one point Hazel glanced beside her, surprised to see the swordsman’s eyes shut. She let out a sigh, finishing her sentence, but not continuing on. She found herself rolling her eyes at the sleeping swordsman, irked that he apparently found her so boring.

“You stuck again?”

Hazel turned to him again, meeting his gaze through half-lidded eyes. She let out a half chuckle, shaking her head in amusement, before diving into the next paragraph.

It was only Luffy’s call of “Dinner!!” that finally drew the two inside.

#together with fruit #twf #monkey d. hazel #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #zoro x oc #one piece #one piece fan fiction #one piece fanfics #one piece oc #one piece original character #I don't even care if this is 'good' I'm just. so glad to have something tangible written #I wanna keep going but it's late and my hands hurt #but the hard part is over; all that's left is canon events

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kbstories · 4 years

Text

Signification

sig·ni·fi·ca·tion (n.)

The process of assigning meaning to something.

Captain and First Mate, two years later.

(Or: Zoro adores his captain. A lot.)

Tags: Reunions, Nakamaship, Introspection, Fluff, Domesticity (!)

Post-Timeskip setting, between Sabaody and Fishman Island. Read Chapter 2 here.

***

Surrounded by tumultuous battle and the distant booming of cannons, the Thousand Sunny begins to sink. The waves churn and slosh against her hull with increasing might; glinting foam breaks across the sky in half-formed arcs and yet not a single drop touches the grass below.

The crew watches, wonder shining in their eyes. Roronoa Zoro counts, sharp gaze touching upon every familiar face, every smile that glows with shared relief, then starts over.

Nine. Nine, again.

Finally complete, the Strawhats are swallowed by the sea.

In a heartbeat, the breathless moment dissolves into the usual chaos as Nami commands their gradual descent: Usopp and Chopper screech in unison about this sea king and that monster over Franky’s good-natured reassurances at the helm and the melodic humming coming from Brook; blooming and wilting like flowers, Robin’s elegant hands crop up all over the deck where Sanji and Zoro are wrangling the sails against the ocean’s massive current–

The Sunny moves like a living thing underneath them and through it all, Luffy laughs and laughs like he couldn’t get himself to stop even if he tried.

Having his friends back is a delight in and of itself but it’s that sound that does it. Zoro can feel the rough edges of the past months knit themselves together into something nostalgic, something fond, a type of gooey-warm devotion that became second nature somewhere along the line.

Like muscle memory, dormant for a while and never forgotten. It’s good to be home.

And yeah, he’s the first to admit soft things don’t come easy to him. There is a private smile on his lips, though, one he doesn’t care to hide. There’s no reason to, not here. Above them, a school of fish swims by, silhouetted by the sun like silver-coated birds and–

“Woah, it’s huge! Is that a shark?”

–the smile turns into a grin. Zoro’s eye meets those of his captain and, before Monkey D. Luffy can utter the idea brewing in that rubber brain of his, Shusui glides out of its sheath smoothly. Luffy cackles and together they stand, with their crew behind and the vast ocean ahead.

“You ready, Zoro?”

Those three little words settle in the spaces between skin and muscle and bone and – after two long years of worrying, wishing, waiting – Zoro nods and gladly takes his place beside the man who will be Pirate King.

The reunion party takes days to run its course until, on the third night, even the most energetic among the Strawhats are turning to their spot on Sunny’s deck for a cozy evening. A bonfire burns brightly in their midst and, under Sanji’s watchful eye, all kinds of sausages and vegetables sizzle away on a makeshift grill. Curiously, the smoke it produces leaves the resin coating of the ship in small, harmless bubbles – arms crossed and leaning back against the railing, Zoro follows their path until they disappear into depths unknown like sticky shooting stars.

A bit of imagination and even this cobalt sky can yield a few constellations, though it would take a creative mind like Usopp’s to name them all. Their presence is soothing, regardless.

No need to look so glum, Mihawk had said, that first night an eternity ago, after awkwardly hovering in Zoro’s periphery for far too long.

It had been a clumsy attempt at comfort at best. There was blood on the cuffs of his shirt and the soot of cannon fire still clung to his coat; made vague by the darkness, it was nonetheless the kind of tangible proof that all those headlines in the paper lacked. Somewhere out there, the ruins of Marineford smoldered. Somewhere out there, his captain was hurting.

Zoro had just huffed and stared out into the void. There was nothing to say, nothing at all.

There had been a quiet sigh, and steps echoing in the silence. Arms crossed, Mihawk had stared until Zoro couldn’t but stare back, quietly surprised by the intensity of emotion burning where nobody dared to look for it.

Don’t grieve what you haven’t lost, kid. You’re all under the same sky, after all.

Still, Zoro muses, eye slipping shut and shoulders relaxing against the Sunny’s comfortable embrace. Around him, the ever-present chatter of the crew dulls to a low rush. This is better.

The transition between sleep and consciousness is so gradual that Zoro doesn’t bother to track down the moment he dozes off. Eventually, there is a subtle shift around him, like gravity itself bends and realigns towards a greater force – a silent force, and that is what makes Zoro glance up between sleepy blinks.

There Luffy stands, hand on his hat and his hat on his chest and a woven-straw brim barely covering the crater of a scar below it. The fire casts shadows on Luffy’s face (Is it doubt flickering there? Indecisiveness?) and yet they’re fleeting enough to make Zoro question what he sees, fractured as his vision has become.

Then Luffy notices he’s awake and it’s all gone with a smile. “Napping already?”, he chuckles as he hops on the railing next to him. Zoro shrugs and stretches with a satisfied grunt.

“We getting close?”

“Nope, not yet.” Luffy snickers as Zoro slumps right back to where he was, his back snug against warmed wood. Sandals flip-flop along with the carefree swinging of Luffy's feet. “It’s okay, though. More chances to listen to Usopp’s stories! He met the Hercules, can you imagine?”

“Hardly”, Zoro grumbles indistinctly enough to not disturb the starry-eyed marvel on Luffy’s face. “Did he tell the one about the man-eating plant turned island yet?”

“The what?!”

It’s impossible not to laugh at how wide Luffy’s eyes can get: Zoro snorts and gestures towards the shape of Usopp on the other side of deck, a silent have at him that Luffy almost follows.

Almost. Cheers and laughter carry over from Usopp’s loosely assembled audience, and Chopper’s astounded What, really?! proves the story being told is a good one. Even so, the motion to launch himself into an unsuspecting Usopp is stopped mid-way and Luffy bounces back to the railing.

Huh.

At Zoro’s questioning grunt, the man just shakes his head and lowers his hat to his lap. “Ah, y’know. We have time now, right?”, he says with a thread of serenity woven into his voice – one that wasn’t there, last time they spoke, and the realization that Luffy is pacing himself shouldn’t feel this monumental.

Zoro lets his gaze linger, this time: over the subtle lines around Luffy’s eyes and the hint of exhaustion underneath; over all the little scars dusting his knuckles, old and new, and the gentle back-and-forth of his thumb over the ribbon of his hat, a mindless gesture of comfort that aches, somehow.

Threadbare it has become, this most faithful of companions. The red is long washed out by the sun and the sea and hell knows what else. Gratitude registers as a warm glow at Zoro’s core, for it being there when none of them could. For weathering the storms and the tears and the laughter, from the instant it left Shanks’ head to this very moment.

“It’s looking good”, Zoro comments lightly as he sits up and rubs the last traces of sleep from his eye. “Feels like ages ago that Nami had to stitch the hat back together. After… Buggy, was it? The clown guy.”

The expression on Luffy’s face goes a bit funny at that, half-way to a grimace yet too fond to be one. “Hah, yeah, him. I’ll have to thank him next time we see him, him and Jinbei and the others.”

Zoro blinks. That… makes no sense at all. Then again, Mihawk did grumble about the clown becoming a warlord, so weirder things have happened. “Who’s Jinbei?”

Luffy smiles, then, bright and toothy. “A friend! Don’t worry, you’ll meet him soon. He’s all serious and talks about honor a lot, so.”

So you’ll like him, Zoro fills in for him and huffs to himself. That part of himself that is fiercely independent wants to argue the point – then again, Luffy’s instincts are rarely off the mark.

Another thing to look forward to, then. Hopefully this Jinbei guy likes to drink.

“Say, Zoro?”

In a bundle of rubbery limbs and rustling fabric, Luffy joins him on the grassy deck, legs crossed and hat back where it belongs. His head tilts curiously, the steady weight of his full attention one Zoro shoulders with ease. “Where did you go?”

Ah, that. It’s a question he’s heard a few times this week, along with How in the world were you first? and What the hell happened to your eye? and Zoro has no room to complain. He, too, keeps a list of names in his heart, and the question marks around their fates are a subtle discomfort but very much there.

It’s weird to think of adventure as something they can experience even when forced apart.

And so Zoro tells him, about the castle standing proud among ruins and the ship that wrecked before it even touched the sea and the day he bowed to become stronger. He doesn’t mention the tense days spent in-between, reading the newspaper near-obsessively for even a scrap of new information. That black-and-white image of his captain standing alone on a battlefield is fresh in his memory, and will remain there for eternity. “Took me a while to get what you were trying to say”, he admonishes without heat, and Luffy nods sagely.

“I know, right? So complicated… Without Rayleigh I would’ve mixed everything up.”

That confirms that theory, then. A whole library of those exists in Zoro’s mind, years’ worth of theories and questions gone unanswered and wild speculation and it doesn’t matter, not anymore. Not with Luffy sitting next to him, looking more at peace than Zoro expected, deep down.

“You did well, Luffy.”

The words are out before he really thinks them through. It feels right, though, to see surprise dawn on Luffy’s face; the pride Zoro places in his voice soon takes root in the square set of Luffy’s shoulders, too, and the strong line of his back.

Then, he grins, eyes alight and squinting with it. Like this, the signs of weariness melt off entirely and there Luffy is, a little older, a little more mature and scarred to hell but still the happy-go-lucky idiot Zoro chose to follow two years ago.

“We really made it, huh, Zoro? It felt like forever and I was wondering if I’m just dreaming or something but… We’re finally here.”

Zoro sighs and reaches over and pulls the hat down, the brim briefly covering the amused chuckle on Luffy’s lips before it’s righted again. “’course it’s real, captain. You think we’d all bust our asses to be on time for some dream? Seriously.”

Luffy is still laughing, “I mean, you were early! Everyone was so surprised!”, poking him in the cheek and wiggling his feet in delight. Zoro lets him have it for a second longer than he normally would have before he rolls his eye and gets up.

“C’mon, rubber-for-brains, there’s some sake I brought that’s calling my name. Oi, Usopp! What was that thing with the plant island again?”

And with the sound of stretching rubber and a not-so-distant crash, Luffy is gone and Usopp yells.

>>Read Chapter 2

#one piece #roronoa zoro #monkey d. luffy #zolu #one piece fanfiction #i love..... zoro so much.....#my stuff #this fic is also on AO3!#(lets hope the readmore works this time huff huff)

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disneydeb1928 · 4 years

Text

One Piece Theories: JoyBoy’s Treasure on Laugh Tale

- The Void Century Theories, Part 2

This is the second part of my Void Century Theories Series.

Joy Boy’s Promise to Princess Poseidon regarding Noah and the Treasure on Laugh Tale

Created during the Void Century, Noah is a giant ship that was a part of a failed attempt to move into the human world – although its exact mission is unknown (and would only be revealed the day it is raised). Joy Boy made a promise to the princess of Fish-Man island, Poseidon, to use her powers to raise the ship to the surface. However, for unknown reasons, Joy Boy was unable to fulfill his side of the agreement. In regret, he left an apology etched onto a poneglyph. Since then, the Fish-Men have kept Noah until “the day that must come” (Ch. 636). Later on, we get a flashback in which the sea kings discussing the reincarnation of their “king” (AKA Poseidon, and now Shirahoshi) and how there would between her and meeting with another sovereign who is to be born in a distant sea (Ch. 968).

During the Fish-Man Island arc, the Sea Kings remark that the time for Noah’s mission was almost here (Ch. 647).

Speculation: If we were to believe Clover’s hypothesis, then this has some serious implications for the timeline. He believes that the Poneglyphs were sought out as a way to conserve history after the Great Kingdom realized they were losing. This means that, by the time that Joy Boy left his apology, the Great Kingdom was already losing. If Joy Boy was in fact a member of the Great Kingdom, as many theorize, it would explain why he was unable to follow through with his plan to raise Noah.

We also know that, at some point, Joy Boy left some type of treasure on the island Laugh Tale. In Chapter 967, Oden says this about what they found:

“We had learned about everything in the world. We learned about the Void Century. We learned about the meaning of the D. name. We learned about the Ancient Weapons. I, at least, learned that Wano had connected with the world in the past. But do you want to know what Gol D. Roger, King of the Pirates, did when the treasure he sought was placed in front of his very eyes? He laughed. We laughed as well, to the point where tears started pouring out of our eyes.”

So, from this, we know that whatever Joy Boy left gave explanations for:

· The Void Century

· The Ancient Weapons

· The meaning of the D. Name

Therefore, we can conclude that, as we all thought, that they are all connected. They are all intertwined with the Great Kingdom and Joy Boy.

Another interesting point, is the fact that whatever they discovered, caused them to laugh. Roger even says,

“Joy Boy, I… I really wish I had been born in the same era as you. You left behind such an unbelievable treasure… !! What a funny story!!”

He specifically mentions a “funny story”, which leads me to believe that there is probably a Poneglyph left on the island. I doubt that it is the only thing that he left behind, but I think it is safe to say that we can expect to find one.

We knew from the Marineford arc that Roger was aware of the true meaning of the ‘D.’ name, but now we know that he got that information from Joy Boy’s treasure. Information that he would eventually give to Whitebeard, telling him “it’s a story from long ago…”.

When Whitebeard confirms the One Piece existence during Marineford, he says this,

“Sengoku… your World Government is afraid… afraid of the coming war that will engulf the world!! I wasn’t interested, but when someone finds that treasure… the world will be shaken to its core…!! Someone will find it. That day will certainly come…One piece… it exists!!!”

Honestly, this could mean absolutely anything and doesn’t really do much in terms of specifics, but what it does give, is some credence to what Clover said regarding the Great Kingdom. He said that all the answers lie in the history of what happened during the Void Century. Considering we now know that what Joy Boy left was an explanation of exactly that, and that Whitebeard says that the truth is going to be “shaken to its core”, lines up with what Clover believed. It is interesting that Whitebeard says that a war will commence after someone finds the One Piece. For there to be a war, it either needs to be over a powerful object (which could be the ancient weapons) or due to anger. However, considering the Roger Pirates laughed when they found the treasure, I don’t believe that’s it.

Also, what Oden concluded from what he learned on Laugh Tale, is that the Wano Country should have their borders open to the world before the day Joy Boy returns (in 20 years). This brings up something I’ve heard a lot of people talking about. Everyone in the One Piece universe keeps speaking of Joy Boy as if he’s suddenly going to rise from the dead. So, either:

· A) He really is going to come back to life. (I’m looking at you, Im-sama’s freezer room)

· B) He is going to reincarnate.

· C) Joy Boy is a title.

Honestly, out of all of these, the one that feels the most like Oda, is option C. Especially when you take into consideration the “Will of D.” which I will discuss later, I feel that it has the most potential. For starters, I really don’t see Oda bringing someone back to life. We already have a main character. Bringing a character with as much hype as Joy Boy with only 5 years left of a series (which accounts for, like, 2 arcs) isn’t a move I can see Oda making. However, I will say, that Im-Sama’s funky freezer room did look like a crypt [but more on that later].

Addendum: In the post-credits secret ending (which was written by Oda), Roger berates one of his crewmembers for having made an eternal pose for Laugh Tale. He grabs it and tosses it into the ocean. After that, he claims “We were too early…”.

Updated: 9/13/2021. In one of the more recent chapters, after Kaido kicks Luffy off of his giant skull, the Emperor says,

Which heavily supports - if not confirms - the theory of Joyboy being a title.

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konfuse · 6 years

Text

History is bound to repeat itself

Franky X Robin fanfiction I 1271 words I Rating: G I future-fic

Years after Luffy became the pirate king, Robin and Franky return to Ohara to rebuild the land of the scholars.

A new place for scientists and scholars to remember the past and to work on the future.

Fanfiction on AO3

“Hey, Robin…”

“What is it, Franky?”

The archeologists of the Strawhats looked up from her book and over to Franky who sat at his desk, reading a letter. She liked to sit in his workshop.

“What are you going to do after Strawhat became the King of the Pirates? After you deciphered the Porneglyphs and know what had happened in the void century?”

Robin tried to ignore the paralyzing and cold feeling of panic in her lungs and stomach whenever she thought about what would happen afterwards. And composed as always she answered:

“I’m not sure yet. What about you?”

“I’m not sure either. I mean I could return to Water Seven and help Bakaburg to let the island float…”

“You could.”

“You could come with me if you want.”

She stilled for a second, unsure what to do with this information while at the same time a warmth started to grow in her chest.

“I… maybe I will… if you’ll have me.”

“I will! If you’ll have me.”

Both looked at each other before turning away, trying to hide their blushes. Franky had to clean his throat before he continued:

“And if Bakabergs construction is working, maybe we can rebuild your home.”

“What?”

----

It was a couple of years later, after Luffy had been declared King of the Pirates, after Water Seven had become a floating Island, when Franky and Robin finally started their project.

While Franky had helped Iceburg to keep Water Seven afloat Robin had searched for the coordinates of Ohara and had started to collect books.

The day they finally arrived they found an island covered in grass. The land, that was once the island of the scholars. No animals were around but birds, nesting on the ground. Robin couldn’t believe her eyes. Everything looked different but this was her home.

Franky first had build a harbour and a pier, then the couple started with planting some trees Cherry and Orange, some Oak and Pines. Then Franky build a little hut for them to live in, so they did not have to stay on the ship anymore. Robin used the time to start a garden, she planted her favorite flowers.

“You will miss to sleep on the ship, won’t you?”

“It’s fine. It’s easier this way… this is the reason why I brought all this wood along anyway,” with a small smile he hugged her nearer to his chest before they fell asleep.

On one of her trips around the island, Robin had found the location of the old tree of wisdom. Some of it old roots were still visible and she found the entry to the underground where she and the other scholars had studied the porneglyphs.

For now it was impossible to enter but she would later ask Franky if he could do something about that. Nearby she found a small seedling, almost a meter in height.

“I hope you’ll grow as strong as your father,” she told it with a small smile.

The next was a little library, not far away from the seedling, that Robin now took care of. She helped it grow stronger.

They brought all of Robins books to the new library.

“It will take some time to fill all of this.”

“You’re right but in the end it will be worth it. It is important to collect knowledge and to make it available for everyone,” with a sigh she leaned on Franky.

----

Whenever their friends passed by they would bring more books and the library slowly grew. Nami brought copies of her maps and Sanji brought copies of his receipts. Chopper would bring medical books that he did not need anymore and one day Usopp brought a book with his own stories and illustrations. Zoro didn’t have much to share but a little booklet about swords. It had been a present but he wanted it to survive time. There were notes about every single sword, who the owner was and where they might be found. Brook promised to stay here on the day when everyone else had perished because he himself was walking, talking history. Luffy himself presented them the log of Sunny.

“These documents will have a special place in this library. They tell the story of the pirate king from his crew's perspective,” the historians fingers carefully caress the leather.

“I’ll add the Sunnys blueprints. Iceburg also sent us copies of all blueprints he has. What about you Robin. Will you add something else beside your whole collection of books?”

“Everything,” her smile was bright as she looked up to the man at her side.

One day an unknown ship arrived onboard was a young man who knelt in front of Robin, begging her to take her in as an apprentice. He wants to learn everything about history. They let him sleep in their house while they argued about it.

“It is dangerous.”

“I know but an apprentice is important. Someone has to continue the work.”

“He is not aware of the dangers that come with being a historian…”

“So weren’t you. But isn’t it important to teach exactly that?”

“How do we know if we can’t trust him?”

“Time will tell.”

Robin sighed, aware that he was right.

So the young man stayed, helped Robin with work in the library, learned to translate texts. He did a good job.

-----

Another ship arrived. A family. They asked for some small part of the island, to build a new home. They had lost everything and want to rebuild.

“More people will come.”

“Yeah… more people means more danger.”

“True but if we want to rebuild this island, we can’t do it alone.”

“I’m aware.”

“It’s your home, Robin. It’s for you to decide.”

The woman looked out of the window, seeing the small huts, build in a hurry by Franky. Her assistant was playing with the kids while the mother and the father hung up clothes.

Of course he was right.

The family settled down and started a farm. They shared their vegetables.

More ships arrived. Some carried old friends who settled down after their own adventures. Some carried new people in hope for a better life. They founded a bakery, a butcher, a fisherman, a school, more farms, a little shop. And even more scholars.

The tree, the children, the population grew. And everything will work out.

----

Even more years later that Robin sits under the seedling, grown to a good three meter, reading a book.

Her hair is slowly becoming white, the reflection in the mirror reminding her every day of her mother. Her mother who had left her at a young age to find the truth. The truth she had recovered. A lot of books in the library are dedicated to the void century, written by her. Secrets hidden away for hundreds of years, uncovered by her. Her life and dream. And it’s even better because she can share it. With new and old friends.

She wonders if her mother is proud of her.

Something makes her look up and she sees Franky walk up to her, greeting left and right. Everyone loves and respects him.

With a smile she closes her book and waits for him. Without missing a step he reaches for her and helps her up.

“Where have you been all day?”

“Here.”

“Brook will join us soon.”

“Already?”

“He says he is too old for touring the world. He feels it in his bones.”

“Skull joke.”

Holding hands they walk towards their own little house, with a garden full of flowers. Their home.

And the home for the rest of their life.

#Frobin #Franky x Robin #OP fanfiction #One Piece #fanfiction #myart #sorry for all the mistakes #but this has been in my mind since forever #and I finally finished it #so it's time to share

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fivedayslater · 6 years

Text

I’m bored and with no one piece chapter or episode this week I have to fill that void somehow

So I went onto ao3 and decided to rate the first 10 sanji pairings I came across

LETS GO

Zoro/Sanji: this ship. This ship right here. Is It. It’s the first ship you’ll find in the port and it’s the last ship you’ll ever need. What do you like in a ship? Do you like bickering? Check. Do you like teamwork so tight they don’t need to talk about it? Check. Do you like them trying to die for each other? Double check. They can be anything you want, friends t lovers? Got that. Enemies to lovers? Done. Enemies to friends to lovers? In spades. Skip lovers and go right to fuckbuddies? They can do that to, they can be anything you want them to be. They have that thing that chemistry that just clicks together with every part of each other. Yeah, they’re the ship you can’t escape but sometimes popular things are popular for a reason and it’s pretty great. You got something real specific - and I mean real specific - that you’re craving? Someone wrote that fic 10 years ago you are set for life with these two. 10/10

Katakuri/Sanji: listen I’ve been digging this since Sanji dodged his bean during the wedding and honestly? Still digging it. Polar opposites on some levels, the failure Prince/the favored son, but so similar on others. What’s that katakuri, your family’s turning their back on you because you’ve show a weakness? Sanji’s been there, Sanji understands let Sanji love you. The fact that they’re on opposite sides of this fight? Absolutely fansatsic. They fact that they aren’t the ones going at it personally? Disappointing. 7/10

Ace/Sanji: the OG flame boys. Remember in the anime when when ace shows up and just. Lights Sanji’s cigarette for him?? With his devil fruit powers?? Super casual like?? Absolute power move Sanji was super into that. And then when Ace was super polite?? And offered to help with shit?? That had never happened to Sanji before ever he was in love instantly. Not a lot of canon interaction between the but the potential, the potential people, it is there and it’s endless and Does Not Disappoint. 8/10

Luffy/Sanji: okay so this?? This right here?? Is the shit. I mean Luffy loves food, and Sanji? He makes the food. Match made in heaven. Also there’s that thing where Luffy literally gave Sanji his life back twice now and Sanji would straight up give it all away again and then some just to see Luffy happy and safe but JOKES ON YOU Sanji he’s never safe and he’s happiest with you. You’re stuck with this boy for life and neither of you would have it any other way. Yeah that’s every straw hat and Luffy on some level but with Sanji it’s like super personal. Remember “without you I can’t become the pirate king”?? Yeah I wish someone loved me like that. Pairings strive to be as perfect as this and fall short every time. And no one ships this outside of me and three other people?? Like are you all blind?? Can you not see how perfect they are for each other?? Absolute madness. The entire fandom should be Ashamed that this isn’t more popular. 10/10

Law/Sanji: this ship lemme tell you I was there Gandalf at the very beginning, when the only thing to ship them on was that they were both from north blue, but ship them we did, and it was Glorious. Then they interacted and that too was Glorious. Here’s the thing, you know how Sanji usually is around guys? Angry and cursing and kicking. You know how he is around Law? Thoughtful and polite and considerate. Why’s that, you wonder, but you know. Deep down you Know. But then Sanji fucked off to zou halfway through dressrossa, and law is just. Skipping WCI like it doesn’t even matter. No way to treat your boyfriend. 7/10

Nami/Sanji: the ship that sucks you In and never let’s go. You think, oh hey theyre kinda cute together and that’s it, it has you forever. Here’s the thing, Sanji loves Nami and yeah he likes all women but Nami is by and far his Favorite. Sanji is the runaway prince that has too much love to give and Nami is the renegade theif that doesn’t realize she needs love until she has all of his. One piece isn’t into endgames but if it was they’d be running a restaurant together by the coast with 2.5 kids and a dog. 8/10.

Shanks/Sanji: there were pairings I was expecting to find and there were pairings I wasn’t expecting to find and this is neither of them because I didn’t even consider it until i saw the words with my own two eyes. And now that I have honestly? I can see it. Shanks is real similar to Luffy except older and marginally more responsible, and Sanji would be super into that. As for Sanji, well he’s capable of cooking large quantities of delicious food with minimal time and ingredients - perfect for when all you wanna do is sail around and have parties - and is loyal enough to be endearing but feisty enough to be interesting. 6/10

Reiju/Sanji: no no nope no imma stop you right there. I don’t do incest I’m out -10/10 who’s next?

Usopp/Sanji: now this is my Shit. It’s the ultimate slowburn ship it’s right there bubbling below the surface and you don’t even realize it then BAM it’s becomes so obvious. Sanji is everything usopp wants to be and usopp is everything Sanji needs to be and it’s just. They’re so good together so good for each other. I’d write them more often but everytime I try it ends in tragedy and the deserve so much more. They deserve the world. 9/10

Pudding/Sanji: remember that episode of Hey Arnold! Where Delilah thinks that Arnold likes her so she gets a crush on him even tho he’s not that into her but then Arnold does end up crushing on her but by the time he realizes it she’s gotten over her crush on him? They are like that but with an attempted murder. There’s two versions of this ship, one where they end up perfectly happy and in love because honestly? They’re made for each other and one where everything ends up a dumpster fire because they are both human disasters. Either way 7/10

#one piece #sanji #i dont wanna tag all the pairings cause i don't wanna get shot

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marcoacesabo · 7 years

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I love your writing so much! And could I possible request an angst with happy ending based on the song 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' by Shawn Mendes?

Ace was cheating on him.

Marco knew him too well to not spot the guilt that lingered in his eyes each time he looked at him. The way he would hide his neck, or back. The way he would stare at his skin like it had both shamed him and satisfied him.

What’s more, is that Ace now never came home. He stayed out too long, going to places that he refused to tell him. The blond would wait hours and hours each night hoping that maybe this time his lover would return.

But he didn’t. Because Ace was in the arms of another.

Has been for almost a full year.

Marco was so stupid to think he would stop or confess to him. He wanted to believe he matter more to the younger man.

Maybe he told himself that it was just a phase, maybe he convinced himself Ace would never betray him like this or maybe it was because he just couldn’t handle the truth.

But for whatever reason, the blond had given him one too many chances. Spent too many nights sobbing into his pillows while the left side of the bed was voided of any heat.

Had suffered far too long.

Ace wouldn’t even notice his red puffy eyes the days he did return. Didn’t know his brother Thatch was in the hospital for two full weeks after a mugging or that Pops had a heart attack and that Marco spent a near full week with him to keep an eye on the old man.

Ace didn’t care anymore about his pain or his fears.

For that, there was no more reason to stay.

Marco was in the middle of packing his belongings when the door open. It surprised him. It’s only been two days, usually, the raven-haired man was gone for four.

The blond turned to the shocked eyes of his soon-to-be ex. He didn’t have to explain what he was doing- it was obvious with the suitcases neatly stacked by the door.

The only things that were left to pack were the little pieces of him scattered throughout the home. One he thought they build together to last forever, but it seems Ace forgot that “forever” part.

Shaking his head to stop the tears- he would not cry anymore- he returns to wrapping the decorative dog ornaments he bought for the living room table. There is stumbling behind him, but he refuses to acknowledge the other man.

He doesn’t deserve it anymore.

“M-Marco?” Ace voice cracks and irritation boils inside the blond.

How dare he. How dare he sound so heartbroken when he was the one who betrayed him! How dare he sound so small and scared when Marco spent months feeling so worthless.

How dare he!

“Marco…What are you-”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m leaving yoi.” The man snaps glaring through the pain at the freckled male.

Ace gasps reaching his hands out to grab onto him but Marco steps to the side avoiding his touch. He can’t handle him being this close. The blond will leave this house with his head held high dammit.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” Marco growled, barely controlled rage making his voice low. “I refuse to be your little plaything any longer.”

“Plaything? No, you’re not a plaything to me. Marco please I love you-”

“Stop lying to me!” He screams, tears falling from the force. Ace looks startled. Of course, he does. Marco had never looked at him with hate before. “I know what you did last summer Ace. I know what you been doing ever since then. I know exactly where you just came from. So don’t you fucking dare say I love you when you clearly don’t!”

Ace pales horribly. He opens and closes his mouth- to make excuses? To apologize? To beg for forgiveness?- but Marco refuses to let him gather himself. “It’s over.”

. There are tears in Ace’s eyes and a pathetic side of him wants to comfort the freckled man. Wants to reach out and bring him close, hold him to his chest. Kiss all the pain away because he loves this man.

Loves him so much that if he stays any longer with Ace, he doesn’t think he would survive the love he feels.

“I didn’t mean it.” Ace whispers looking so hopelessly desperate. His heart is breaking right now alongside Marco’s. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far Marco. I-I didn’t mean it.”

A humorless laugh wheezes out of Marco. “Didn’t mean it? Fuck you Portgas.”

He is sobbing now. his breath is hitching and he can’t even see anymore but he doesn’t care. It hurts. It hurts so much to hear a confirmation of his worst fear. Hell Ace isn’t even denying it.

Why does that make his chest feel so tight?

He’s been cheated on by the love of his life and it fucking hurts so much. “Fuck you. I loved you so much, even when you didn’t even love yourself. I stood up for you, defended you again and again when others said you were wrong for me. I spent nights praying you to come home safe when you disappeared to go to someone else. I gave everything I ever had to you, for two whole years and all you can say to me is I didn’t mean it!?”

Ace is crying too, hugging himself like he’s scared. And no. No! He doesn’t get to be the victim here! He doesn’t get to act like it’s Marco who ruined them.

He smashes the dog on the ground before kicking the boxes he had stacked on the around them. The other man jumps but Marco doesn’t care. He stomps past him picking up his suitcases as he angrily throws the front door open. “Fuck you! Go to hell you piece of shit! I never want to see you again! I hate you!”

And he leaves.

Marco hates how slow he goes, hoping Ace will call him back. Because even at the end he gives him a chance to fix things, like an idiot he is.

And again, Ace disappoints him.

He lets him go, doesn’t even follow him. He just stays standing there in the living room staring down at the broken things Marco left behind.

He never comes back for them.

Even when Ace and Sabo - the man he cheated on Marco with- try to contact him and beg him to come back.

They love him they claim. Needed him in their lives. Wanted to make things right.

But Marco never answers.

Because he wants Ace to suffer and hurt and regret everything, just like he did when he Izo showed him multiple pictures of Ace kissing an unfamiliar man.

When Luffy-eyes filled with pity and shame- answered his question with a soft “I’m sorry. He’s not here. Ace is with his boyfriend.”

#MarcoAceSabo #I know what you did last summer #cheating #Anonymous #Angst #To me there is never a happy ending when it comes to cheating

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luffylaws · 7 years

Text

To See You Again

10 Days of Lawlu Day 9: R is for… Reunion

Summary: Law and Luffy are reunited after Whole Cake Island

[read on AO3]

Wano was a mess, and from what Law had heard, Whole Cake Island had been the same.

He couldn’t wait to see Luffy again, and to make sure he was alright. He knew Chopper was more than capable, but this was beyond physical wellbeing. He needed to see Luffy. To make sure that he was still there, that he was real, that he was still smiling.

Of course when it actually happened, it came as a surprise.

“Torao!”

Law turned at the distinctive bellow of his just as distinctive nickname out of his boyfriend’s mouth. Luffy was running towards him at full speed. Seeing Luffy rushing towards him, Law opened his arms in anticipation.

Luffy threw himself at him and wrapped his arms around him. Law did the same. He buried his face in the crook of Luffy’s neck and shoulder, just breathing him in.

Then Luffy’s laughter reached his ears and a second later Luffy had wrapped his legs around Law’s middle, too, threatening to throw them off balance. Law took a step back to regain his balance, but he had to laugh too.

This was what it meant to be with Luffy.

“Welcome back,” Law said.

“You too,” Luffy said, even though it had been him who had returned to Law.

“I missed you,” Law whispered. He knew that Luffy had heard.

“Me too,” Luffy said.

Law pulled back and carefully set Luffy down, cupped his face with his hands, inspecting him carefully, gently. He was looking for anything: injuries, scratches, the hints of anything lying underneath that could have robbed Luffy of anything. But eventually he settled on his eyes again, which were the same as they had always been. Full of love and fire.

And Luffy? Luffy did the same. And ended up running his hand over the new scar on Law’s shoulder – barely healed tissue, really, no two weeks old. It reached down far enough on his arm to disrupt the lines of his tattoo.

“I’m sorry,” Luffy said.

Law shrugged. “It’s alright. It happens.” He had enough tattoos and enough skin. Nothing worse had happened.

“I’m gonna kick Kaido’s ass,” Luffy promised.

“You better,” Law said. “And I’m gonna be right there with you. But first we have to make up a plan.”

“And eat,” Luffy added.

“And eat,” Law said. “And sleep, hopefully.”

“And then you’ll have to tell me everything,” they both said at the same time. Luffy laughed again.

Law had forgotten what it felt like to have all the Strawhats together. It was contained mayhem, joy and chaos that came in waves.

But he hadn’t forgotten what it felt like to have Luffy with him – had missed him every day.

So they sat there together, sides touching, drink in Law’s hand (because one drink wouldn’t cloud his judgment enough to not be able to enjoy tonight, no matter what tomorrow brought) and their eyes on the campfire in front of them. Although Law’s kept straying to Luffy. He had learned the hard way how important it was to look at the people he loved as often as he could.

He hadn’t been away from Luffy for this long since they had gotten together. He had thought that he had gotten used to missing things – missing people – by now, but Luffy’s absence was so visceral, so loud in its silence, that he had noticed it immediately. It was like a void had been filled now that he was back.

Being able to look at him again was a privilege.

Luffy yawned and Law smiled. “We should turn it for the night,” he said. “There’s a lot to do tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Luffy said. He obviously wanted to keep talking with the others, who he hadn’t seen for just as long, but Law could see that he was being overwhelmed by his exhaustion. He got up and pulled Law up with him.

They said goodnight to the others and then headed off.

Their group had erected tents in their hideout on the far side of the island, in lieu of proper quarters for everyone on the Polar Tang – although they had motions in place to be able to retreat to its underwater safety quickly, in case they were discovered.

Law had been sharing a tent with Bepo until now, but his friend had moved his things to Shachi and Penguin’s tent once the rest of the Strawhats had arrived. He really knew Law all too well.

There were two bedrolls, and Law quickly kicked off his boots and pulled off his jeans to get under the covers. Luffy did the same.

Then, of course, he cuddled up to Law, dragging his unzipped sleeping bag with him.

“You’re always so cold,” he said. There was no accusation in his tone, it was almost completely neutral – a rarity for Luffy.

Law shrugged and put an arm around Luffy. “I don’t feel cold,” he said. “You just have a higher body temperature than other humans.” And well, when he had blankets and Luffy to warm him, he really couldn’t be cold.

“I really missed you,” Luffy said.

“I know,” Law said. “Me too.”

It felt easy to admit, and that in itself was a small miracle.

“You know this kind of thing is going to happen again, right?” Law asked. He wasn’t sure if it had even occurred to Luffy until now, but Law had definitely thought about it a lot.

He remembered a time when the Strawhats had just been a nuisance in his life, first a disruption of his carefully concocted plan and then a means to an end, an alliance he couldn’t wait to get out of as soon as possible. And then the slow change as he had spent more time with them – with Luffy. He had found himself caring, and fighting the feeling with all he had, because caring never led anywhere good, he already cared too much about his own crew – and subsequently losing that fight. He was in this for the long haul, he knew.

And that made the thought of having to leave again that much harder. Which of course led him to thinking about it constantly. His brain just loved to make him miserable.

“I know,” Luffy said, “but we’ll always find our way back to each other.”

His optimism was both expected, and a constant surprise to Law. How a single person could have amassed so much of it was a mystery to him.

He reached out and ran a hand over Luffy’s cheek. “Keep believing in that,” he told him.

Maybe then he would eventually believe in it too.

#10daysoflawlu #10 days of lawlu 2k17 #opfanfic #lawlu #one piece #my writing #my fics #a classic but hey

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spirit-science-blog · 3 years

Video

youtube

For this extraordinary episode, I’ve tailed the script into three segments. The first is for everyone, whether you’ve seen the show or not, so no spoiler warnings just yet - you’re free to enjoy. Then there will be the first spoiler warning - in which I will discuss episode 1, which is a safety net for those who haven’t seen it, are curious about it, but don’t want to ruin the whole thing. Then there will be a second spoiler, in which I highly encourage ANYONE who hasn’t seen the show, to stop watching and enjoy the full series, and then come back because we’ll be going deep into the whole thing! Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, translating mostly to Heaven Piercing Crimson Face - is a show about the transformation of the soul. It’s about brotherly bonds and finding true love, and recognizing when someone else is oppressing you and overcoming the evil forces at all odds. It’s a narrative on modern society and the spiritual movements that lead to a collective awakening of the human spirit, and rising to overcome our inner deadness and become full of life, love, and burning willpower! It’s about the activation of the human DNA and the intrinsic evolutionary spiral power inherent within each one of our hearts and how if we work together - there is nothing we can’t accomplish! It’s a story of redemption, grave emotional hardship, the craziest trials and tribulations, and above all else - it’s about learning to believe in yourself.

Honestly, words cannot describe the love that I have for this show. It planted some spiritual seeds within me when I was in high school, which activated several years later during my spiritual awakening at 19. The show has been so meaningful to me that even plant medicine will show specific scenes or character arcs in a ceremony from time to time, to teach me lessons, and you’ll also find references to it in Patch Tarot.

As a fair warning, not only is the show amazing, hilarious, and epic as epic can be - it’s also wildly sexy. There’s no shortage of fan-service here, and I genuinely believe this was done to get more young men to watch it and wake up to higher spiritual wisdom.

Gurren Lagann is an expression of the lessons of brotherhood, and along with FullMetal Alchemist, there aren’t too many shows like it that hit this mark dead center, straight and right. Gurren Lagann will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and with every single episode, except maybe chapter 4, you will find yourself loving this show more and more until it’s done, bringing out an ending more epic than epic can be - it’s bittersweet, it’s beautiful… honestly- this show is a force to be reckoned with. You can probably tell, I have an affinity for this adventure, and so I am thrilled to present you with this extraordinary episode - Gurren Lagann and the Birth of Odin.

With that, here is our first spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen the show but want to get a feel for it, keep going. Here’s the hidden spirituality of Episode 1.

Gurren Lagann begins with Simone the Digger and his Brother in Spirit - Kamina. The entire concept spirals around the bonds of brotherhood and the spiritual connection that we form in life with those we care about. At this point, humans are all living underground, isolated from other pockets of civilization. There is a very strict dogma in their village - there is no surface, and anyone who believes that there is a surface is a foolish fool, so they don’t dig upwards because of how ridiculous an idea is.

Right from the start, we have this metaphor for our society and the dogmatic ideologies in the world. In the story, the people all live in darkness, and they are convinced that there is no such thing as the expansive surface. The conversations of higher spiritual or heavenly realms, astral dimensions or other similar concepts are often ridiculed, despite a never-ending stream of testimonials from individuals who have personally experienced these different planes of conscious awareness.

Speaking to Simon and Kamina, they beautifully depict a man in his fullness, and a boy in his weakness. Kamina fulfills many roles for Simon, supporting him and reminding him that he is meant for something great. Simon, who is a digger - is told by Kamina that his drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens! It’s beautiful to see how Kamina’s encouragement gives Simon the confidence and motivation to believe in himself. He says, “Don’t believe in yourself, believe in me that believes in you!”

The moving lesson here is that so many of us today struggle with confidence and self-worth issues. There are many introverts, shy; we make ourselves lowly and weak and stay in the shadows of the world. Then others are outgoing, confident, and sometimes brash and arrogant, which Kamina is. This is very important because the world needs these kinds of people to pair up. If you are confident and healthy and see someone who is shying away on the inside from stepping into their inner power - you can be that strength for them, and that is such a special thing. In fact - to you who is watching this, if you can’t believe in yourself, believe in me that believes in you. Because I believe in you, and the world is ready for you to shine your light be the highest expression of who you indeed are!

What’s remarkable here is that Kamina mostly plants this seed within Simon. He sees the light in Simone that even Simon doesn’t know there, and by telling him, reminding him, encouraging him over and over, Simon grows as a person to overcome the obstacles he faces.

One of the things that are very motivating here that gives Kamina his strength - was his father and experience that he had when he was a child. His father sought to find the surface, and he was also called crazy, but one day... he did! Kamina was with him, he saw the surface with his own eyes, and while he didn’t stay with his father up there, he knew it was true. This is a powerful lesson in TRUTH. When we experience the truth, even if the world tells us we’re crazy, we know it deep down.

On a spiritual level, this is akin to having a mystical experience in life, perhaps synchronicity, an out of body experience, or some mystical experience that proves without a doubt for us that there is something more significant than the mundane world we are presented with. Even in the face of scrutiny and ridicule, you keep on believing, because you know in your heart that it’s real. These scenes depict an awareness striving for something more significant in the face of those who would mock and ridicule, which we all must do if we are to attain a higher light.

Throughout this first episode, Simon discovers this little drill necklace and a giant face underground, revealed to be a mini-mech that he can ride in. Kamina names it Lagann, which represents the vehicle of our soul, but I won't be able to explain that until later.

Everything changes when suddenly, a massive mech falls from the ceiling, illuminating the cavernous village. Along with it comes a compelling woman named Yoko who swings in firing a large rifle. Yoko is a character who, throughout the series, is revealed to have tremendous depth, and stands as a powerful archetype of the divine feminine. She’s not a girly girl as so many women are depicted to be, and despite her outfit, she isn’t just there for the looks. She is a strong woman entirely in her power who can fight off giant mechs single-handedly with nothing but her rifle. Throughout the series, she carries many very human moments, with a wide range of emotional depth.

Yoko teams up with Simon and Kamina and explains to them that this mech is called a Gunman and that she comes from a nearby village. They do battle against the great enemy, and from an unknown source of power within Simon, as he overcomes his fear, Lagann ignites with energy and they blast off into the sky, destroying the enemy gunman and liberating themselves from the cavern, and into the surface world - giving us a view that’s so beautiful, it makes for excellent desktop wallpaper.

Alright, if you’ve not seen the show yet - this is as much as I can give you. I hope this is enough to inspire you to watch it because it genuinely is an INCREDIBLE show. If you have any intention to view the full presentation, I’d recommend giving it a go first, because you don’t want to ruin the surprises that await throughout this series.

Now, we’re about to enter a spoiler void. Please DO NOT PASS THIS POINT UNLESS YOU’VE SEEN IT! OKAY?!

OKAY.

See you on the other side… maybe!

~ ~ ~

So, was it worth it to wait and watch it?

One thing I love about this show is that it wastes no time. In contrast, from the beginning of his journey, it took Goku 575 Episodes from landing on the planet earth to embodying cosmic ultra-instinct superconsciousness. Naruto took over 700 episodes to become Hokage and Luffy… jeez, it’s been over 900 events, and he STILL hasn’t found One Piece yet!

But Gurren Lagann? 27 Episodes take no time at all to go from living underground suppressed by the entire universe, to the ultimate colossal superconscious mega ultra cosmic Gurren Lagann! I mean seriously! They do not waste any time! This is important because not all of us have time to watch 900 episodes of Luffy not finding his treasure.

Built into the fundamental fabric of this show - The ability to believe in anything makes it possible. Kick logic to the curb and do the impossible! We can see this practice throughout human history - how many people told the wright brothers that it was impossible to build a flying machine? How many people said Michael Faraday that he was insane for believing in the electromagnetic field? Yet, these people in history felt in something more significant than the limits of what society said was true, just like the village chief in Jiha village. They created and discovered things that completely changed the world forever.

To that end, we also see the wisdom of the ancients coming through. The powerful mech that Simon finds in episode one is a remnant of an ancient technology known to humanity. Today, we say “hogwash! There was no advanced technology so long ago,” - and yet we have evidence of ancient civilizations with advanced technology in several different ways all over our planet, from Gobekli Tepe to the Baghdad battery. And this weaves in very well to Episode 5, as Team Gurren falls into the pit of Adai Village, and discover that this isolated community believes that the Gunmen are face-gods from the celestial lands.

There are so many lessons and allegories from this one episode alone, such as how the theoretical perspective of the village is used to keep their town from overpopulation due to the lack of food they have, and how they would necessarily kill people by sending them to the surface, except its under the guise that they are going to some supreme world. It’s curious then why they all wouldn’t just go there freely, with this belief, which is very similar to the process of Ascension from Cloud Atlas, where the slave women would be killed, all the while believing they are about to ascend. This episode stands as a lesson to the use of dogma to shroud the truth. Once conditioned to a particular way of being, especially after generations of these beliefs, some people are simply not ready to hear the truth. When Kamina tries to tell everyone the truth, the people of the village reject it.

The episode title, mirroring Kamina's line, is called “I don’t get it, not one bit” - and I think this reflects how many people feel when looking at other belief systems and perspectives of the world. It takes a gentle mind and compassionate wisdom to understand that the leader of Adai village knew the truth all along. He deceived people because he could see that the people were not at a level of consciousness to receive the fact, at least not without creating havoc in the village. Herein we find a valuable lesson for all of us - Team Gurren was forced to leave the town and move on, they were not in Adai to be saviors of anyone, even though it may have felt good to awaken everyone - we must learn for ourselves that we cannot save anyone. Still, we must each follow our path to its completion, and let go of others on their way. We cannot take anyone except for those who are already walking alongside us or choose to join us on our journey.

Continuing throughout the entirety of the series, starting with Episode 3 - is the principle of Combining! Brotherly, epic combining! Combining seems like a fun idea on the surface, but how does it practically relate to any of us? It’s quite simple - the truth is, we gain tremendous momentum when we can collaborate and work together to make things happen. When we put our heads, hearts, and bodies together, items become more accessible and more possible than ever! Take Spirit Science, for example - Team Spirit, the name of which was inspired by Team Gurren - is comprised of this ragtag team of people from around the world, and together we do things that would be impossible for one to do alone.

If you think “Wow, Spirit Science is great! Go, Patchman!” Just remember that behind Patchman is an entire team of people. Sure, we have a Simon, but we also have our own Yoko, Kittan, Dayaka, and everyone that makes it possible to produce all of the videos and content that we do! Everyone whose enrolled in Spirit Mysteries is contributing to the spiral energy that allows Spirit Science to level up and evolve, so if you’re in Spirit Mysteries - you are also a part of Team Spirit! This is the power of combining, bringing our energies together to make things happen, to make the impossible, possible!

Now, moving on - I think Episode 4 is a test to see how many people will react, vs. Respond. You might have noticed the animation is weird, and the story on this one doesn’t lend TONS to the show. This episode was animated differently because it had a different director. It was a bit of an experiment on the part of the producers. Some people see it and think, “oh, this show went to crap” and stop watching. Yet, for those who see it through, you get some heavy-hitting deep stuff in the immediate next episode, and the rest of the show is beautiful and moving all the same.

Continuing in these core themes of the show, we have fighting spirit - which is more than just a feeling, but a mysterious power that allows their machines to activate and even increase in power. We see this from Episode 1 when Simon suddenly getting fired up creates a surge in Lagann, and this is a continuous thing throughout the show. It even allows Gurren Lagann to repair itself in the middle of battle temporarily. Kamina’s attitude here, in the face of EVERYONE telling him he’s insane, brings about one of my favorite micro-scenes in television history.

*play scene* It repaired itself? FIGHTING SPIRIT!!!”*

He just yells at them with this told you so attitude, I mean come on, weren’t you listening to me all this time?!

What’s especially surprising here is that they weave this into the core of the show at the deepest level. Fighting spirit is a reflection of Spiral Power, the limitless untapped potential within our spiraling DNA. And this ALSO holds a convenient lesson for all of us. Here’s a short example - When I was a kid, I played soccer on a team. I remember several times when I was there, out on the field, being exhausted and weak, but time was running out, and we needed a goal. I’d get fired up somewhere within me, so I would get so motivated inside to perform that out of nowhere. All of this energy would surge through me, and it was as if I could temporarily repair my systems and provide my body with peak performance.

Sure, we can call it adrenaline on a physical level, of course - yet it was the burning will-power, this feeling within me that motivated me into that state in the first place. In many occasions, I would start running or moving faster than I usually would, and helped the team to turn around and get those last-minute goals! The adrenaline wouldn’t have kicked in if the motivation was not there.

Now, I know this is not exclusive to me, so the lesson here is that this burning fighting spirit lay dormant within you. It’s waiting for you to turn the key of your drill, activating the motivation to do the impossible, see the invisible, row row, fight the power!

This motivating drive is one of the show's driving forces, and we see a brilliant unity here between Kamina and Simon. In their combining, they form the head and the heart of everything they stand for and believe in, both literally and figuratively. However, we also see the counter energy to this; what happens when fear takes over? It makes sense that Simon, the one with the most fear, would be seated in the Head of Gurren Lagann, representing the Ego before and after self-actualization. Simon is forced to learn some painful lessons, even fatal when Simons's fear ends up distracting the team in an epic battle, and Team Gurren suffers a deadly blow to the heart. The death of Kamina.

Up until this point, Kamina carried this thing almost single-handedly. He was the one who inspired humans to take control of the Gunmen. He was the one who gave everyone this dream that they could be free and overcome the tyranny imposed on them. He inspired everyone to believe in themselves against all of the odds and no matter the opposition… and then, suddenly… he was gone.

Instantly, everyone has lost their faith. What’s more so, they discourage Simon from his greatness too. Kamina always said it was Simon who gets them out of a bind, and it was Simon who had the keys of importance within him, that it was HIS drill that would pierce the heavens… yet, when Kamina was gone, nobody believed this anymore. Nobody showed faith in Simon, and in fact, they treat him like he’s nothing, a loser, a wimp.

And we must understand that because of Kamina’s death - Simon becomes a mopey, angry, very emotional little guy, but yet it’s impressive to see how other people treat him as a result. Because he’s not acting like a leader, they cast him aside very quickly, leading to one of the most emotionally challenging three episodes in anime history, at least in my books. It’s such a sharp turn for the series, yet it’s so incredibly necessary because Gurren Lagann - while on its surface might seem like it’s about mech fights and explosions, reveals that it’s about so much more than that.

Because of this twist, we get to experience deep emotional heartbreak. We get to see Yoko having some extremely human moments and overcoming the loss of the man that she loved… Perhaps most of all, we discover that the show itself is not at all about Kamina, as much as he was the center up until this point. The show is about Simon - about the individual who didn’t, and couldn’t believe in himself due to his traumas in life, like losing his parents. The lesson here is that it’s about all of our souls, that light within us - rising into becoming genuinely incredible people, embodying the light of who we are.

Yet, as a door closes, a window opens, and we have the introduction of a new character named Nia, with a very different energy. She represents the innocence and purity of the world, nature, and human consciousness. She is literally like a flower, which you can see by the way her eyes are drawn. She is also the next step for Simon in his journey of learning to believe in himself. One of my favorite scenes of the show is that after his three episodes of Trauma, Simon saves the entire team, comes to Nia's rescue, and defeats one of the Spiral Kings generals. It’s so moving but not because it’s a heroic rescue, but because it’s the first time when Simon steps fully into manhood. It’s a coming of age when he reveals that he is not his bro, but he is himself, and his bro lives on through the emblem on his back, and inside his heart forever.

His bro set the stage for his ascension, and Simon will keep moving forward, keep drilling to the heavens, and overcome all obstacles in his way. Several places in this show make me well up, and this is one of them. He expresses the real quality of his soul, and even his entire team just watches with amazement at how incredible and beautiful soul shines are. From then on, they see it too, and they know what Kamina saw from the very beginning. They believe in Simon, and it fuels all of them to save the world from the Spiral King's tyranny.

And now let’s just jump straight there. First, it’s worth exploring the name itself. He is the spiral king, Lord Genome. A genome is a complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism, so Lord Genome is named as such because he is the overlord of spiral power of the planet, controlling and maintaining that people stay at low spiral energy, while also creating the Beastmen to rule over the world and keep people from standing up for themselves. Yet, he reveals that no beastmen will ever be able to stand up to a spiral being entirely in their power, which also carries a powerful lesson for us - that the spiral power, that burning energy within us, when truly awakened is infinite.

In the Spiral King fight, there is so much on the line, but it doesn’t seem like Simon himself is enough to defeat Lord Genome, who has the same tech as Simon, but a more muscular body. Yet, in the final moments of their epic duel, Simon defeats the Spiral King with his core drill, demonstrating that the power is not within the robots, but within the people, flowing through us all - and he explodes Lord Genome, leaving a massive hole. The spiral king plummets to his death, but not before giving a grave warning… That the moon shall one day become hells messenger and destroy this world…

It’s fantastic because we get all this way in the series and you think “hm, this would make for a great ending!” - but we haven’t even gotten started yet! Season 1 ends with the fall of Teppelin, the Spiral King's order, and a new world to emerge, a world where humans can live on the surface…

~ ~ ~

Seven years later… Wow! I must say, seeing all of these beautiful characters all grown up was fantastic to see where this show was going, and there’s no stopping the powerful reflections on human consciousness. After the 7-year jump, we know the world has taken an entirely different form… Reflecting on modern civilization, what happens as more considerable technological advancement is given to humans, and even shows how people behave today. We see this with people focused so much on themselves and their luxuries, taking for granted everything that brought about their liberation, and forgetting the past struggles from only seven years prior.

They have forgotten the courage of Team Dai Gurren. Even the old Jiha village chief, which was horrible to Simon and Kamina, now has all of this wealth and status, saying things like, “oh yeah, I raised those boys.” It’s such a stark contrast to how things were, and a strong reflection of the world, how humanity generally isn’t very heart-centered… they can be, but how quick we are to forget when there is the potential for luxury and wealth. Let this be a reminder for us to stay in the heart, as Simon does, no matter what circumstances befall us.

What’s worse, with no more battles to face, the warriors of Team Gurren are forced into becoming political leaders, which - interestingly, is exactly what is described by Avatar Airbender in the transition to Korra, another series that we will one day explore in Hidden Spirituality. The job is especially hard on Simon, who suddenly finds himself having to sign stacks of paperwork, a position that just really isn’t suited for him at all. Out of all of Team Gurren, the one with the most sense about her is Yoko, who leaves the team to go and become a teacher way off on basically Hawaii, which reflects her following her dreams and passions.

The one who is most suited for leading a civilization is also the worst for it all - Rossiu, who has a lot of ego blocks he has to overcome first. He becomes a great leader by the end, no question, but in his position, there is a lot that he too has forgotten about the days of the triumph over the spiral king and the power of the spiral in general. He doesn’t truly understand the nature of the spiral and is led by fear because of his upbringing in Adai village. Because of this, and his fear of the prophecy of the moon from Lord Genome, he actively sets his goal on controlling and maintaining the population of humanity to protect them, but doing so becomes a tyrant in his own right, inflicting rigid control over everyone, forcing people from their caves even if they didn’t want to leave… and then later, forces Simon to trial, and also sentences him to death.

We are shown a lesson here of the power of fear to destroy faith. The people are so quick to blame Simon for making the moon fall, they live in terror of their demise and don’t have faith. We also find the lesson that it’s far easier to point the finger, instead of taking responsibility for ourselves. Not only is everyone ungrateful for the lives that they now have thanks to Simon and Team Dai Gurren, but they are also instantly to reject him and throw him under the bus for the impending doom to come. Further, Rossiu is more interested in people's cheers and making the people “satisfied” rather than doing the right thing and solving the problem at its core, and a great piece of wisdom is revealed here. When you live in a fear-based mentality, freedom is not an option with that kind of thinking.

Rossiu says to Simon, “you know nothing, Jon Snow,” when he was the one who knew nothing but acted as if he did. Spiritually speaking, we can look at this whole thing and see the influence of fear on our lives. Rossiu actively lives from fear in all of his decisions until the Arc Gurren returns to the Earth when he realizes the true nature of Spiral Power. Fear causes him to become a rigid tyrant, fear causes him to close his heart to his friends, and while fear can be a powerful motivator in life, we must see the results that we create when we act from fear ultimately only leads us down a path of despair. Also, a side note - the Arc Gurren is likely a reference to the story of Noah’s ark, as the Arc Gurren is a great vessel that Rossiu wants to use to help humanity to survive the impending cataclysm that is coming towards them, with the Moon crashing into the earth.

Now, be mindful that there is a difference between fear and caution, for Rossiu could have acted very similarly, except being more open-hearted, keeping people informed about what he was doing, and how he felt. Instead, by keeping everyone in the dark, he created a division between the truth, his team, and the entire human population. This is another great lesson for us all, to live in reality, and to remain open, especially with those we love and trust. This is especially important for political and social leaders in the world today, by keeping information from the public, we limit others from having proper information to make informed decisions.

Speaking of uninformed decisions, we also see Gimmy playing out a familiar role that many young people experience growing up - arrogance. Gimmy is so proud of his mass-produced Grappurl machine, talking about how the old Gunmen were outdated - yet the Grappurls are ineffective against the Mugan because they were not designed to fight such an enemy. Gimmy shows arrogance and ignorance towards Simon, before being humbled by the revelation that he cannot take on the mugan, and needs Simons help.

Okay - so one significant twist in the show throughout this is that - when the millionth human is born, Nia is suddenly overtaken by anti-spiral consciousness, and serves as a messenger, speaking about the destruction of humanity to prevent the spiral nemesis. For the rest of the season, Nia is no longer herself but mentally enslaved by the anti-spirals, who we’ll explore shortly. This is a profound reflection for us, in that the divine feminine, and the christ Sophia, the pure-hearted feminine christ consciousness - that which Nia represents, has been lost or purged from the world. Nia disappearing movingly shows us this, which fuels Simon to the show's inevitable conclusion. 3

Now, as the show continues, more of the truth is revealed to us. Until episode 18, the show is shrouded in mystery. What is spiral power? How does this all work, why does it work? Up until now, it hasn’t been explained… and then, at last, we get some answers. We discover that Lord Genome, who we all thought was a villain, was protecting humanity to survive all along! Does that information suddenly change your perspective of him? In a way, he is benevolent, perhaps his methods were cruel, yes, but if not for him, humanity may very well have gone extinct entirely.

Speaking of changing our perspectives, perhaps one of the most remarkable and most heartwarming transformations is found with Viral. For all of season 1, Viral is one of the main enemies, continually showing up with the Spiral Kings generals to try and subdue the team. However, after the fall of Teppelin and the time skip occurs, he is trying to protect humans, giving them the freedom to live underground if they wish, where Rossiu is forcing people to the surface count them.

After Simon and Viral are imprisoned together, the once enemies become friends, ultimately leading Viral to pilot the body of Gurren Lagann, Kamina’s seat. When Viral first sits down in that chair, it is such a heartwarming moment, because it shows the transformation through illumination, wisdom, and love. There is no better pilot than Viral for this final mission, showing that Beastmen and Humans - or people of an opposing mentality and consciousness, can work together for the betterment of all. Sometimes, it just takes getting to know someone else better. Deep down, we all share a common understanding that brings us altogether if we can get to the heart. What’s more, Viral is sitting in the center of the body of Gurren Lagann, a demonstration of his care, even though he’s a beastman.

This transformation with Viral was prophesied throughout, though, in a way that most people would miss. The name of his Mech was Enkidu - named after the character from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, a character who is quite literally a beast-man, a wild man who roams in the wild with the lions and the bears and the other creatures of the wilderness… In the Epic of Gilgamesh, he transforms into a more normal human, after being introduced to them, and mating with a woman. So the fact that Virals name is Enkidu indicates that he too - over his story - slowly transforms from more of a beast-like individual to a more conscious and awakened being. x

Now, we discover that the war between the spiral races and the anti-spirals was the secret cause of everything from the very beginning, and the Anti-spirals represent those who would push down human evolution and progress, stopping the inherent spiral power within us because they believe it would lead to the destruction of the universe. We see this in the world today, the Anti-Spirals are reflected by the corporations, social systems, and politicians who would seek to slow down evolution and direct the focus into keeping things from changing, out of fear of what would happen if humanity was to attain too much power.

What’s more, the anti-spirals also represent that part of ourselves, which colonizes our desire to grow and evolve by keeping us little. It’s like the part of Simon who didn’t believe in himself, that was afraid, that would keep himself small- which means the Anti-Spiral energy is within us - as they describe at the end, they are trying to inflict absolute despair, to quench the human spirit from wanting to spiral, to grow at all.

The Anti-Spirals are also noticeably enjoyable because they are different kinds of enemies, not physical. Still, energy, or a particular consciousness imposing control, so they are animated entirely differently. Their weapons are almost wholly animated in 3D - demonstrating that they are more like energy bodies than real bodies. We also see this with the Anti-Spiral himself, who is animated 2D because the Anti-Spirals were once spiral-beings, but changed their DNA and became a different kind of being, so they are animated with scribbles instead of typically drawn like everyone else, and his colors are inverted. Usually, character outlines are drawn in thin black lines.

What’s more, we even see a fun visualization from the Mugan, which demonstrates what it might look like to move between dimensions, which is an entertaining way of visualizing multidimensionality. And I mean, how amazing is it to see the Ark Gurren Lagann punch the mugan so hard it rips a hole in the space-time continuum. I wonder if we opened up a dimensional portal, might it look similar in real life?

And of course, there is the revelation that the moon isn’t real, which was probably drawn upon from the conspiratorial source material that suggests that the moon isn’t real, or was placed there artificially by aliens, due to several curious synchronicities about the moon that stand out and indicate that the moon is not a naturally occurring phenomenon on the planet. Its size and position in alignment with the Earth are so precise, such as being a perfect match to the sun to create a complete solar eclipse, it seems like it didn’t just appear here so correctly in an ancient collision so long ago, but seems to be carefully calculated and precisely shaped and place to offer such unique alignments to our planet. Even the great Geologist and educator Randall Carlson today provides us with the wisdom - the Moon is one of the greatest mysteries for all of humanity today. We would do well to take that mystery seriously, and not pretend we have all the answers to the secrets of the moon.

Now, I don’t venture a guess, to tell the truth about the moon in this particular video. Still, it’s interesting that Gurren Lagann draws upon this, and offers this idea that the Moon is a giant Gunman itself, the Cathedral Terra, but which had been purposed by the Anti-Spirals to become Hells messenger, watching over the planet and destroying all of life if the human population grows too large. Further, they later show that the real moon also exists, but was hidden in-between dimensions. After the Cathedral Terra is free from the Anti-Spirals control, they can retrieve the actual satellite, which restores the gravitational balance to the planet. Fascinating material!!

At last, only after this, we are explained Spiral Power, which they do in a brilliant way, where Leeron explains all of the details about it. Nobody gets it, and so he simplifies it for everyone. Essentially, the Spiral Power is the infinite helix spiraling power of our DNA, but manifests as Fighting Spirit, and that Love powers the universe, and it is through the power of love that we can break through the limits that bind us, and do the impossible!

Leeron also offers another piece of wisdom when he is on the Ark Gurren… The Faster we spin - the faster we break free of the bonds of gravity. We can relate this not just to severity - but that “raising our vibration” breaks free of the relationships and limits of our old life and sets us on a course for a new kind of tomorrow!

What’s also uniquely special, that after Rossiu realizes his grave mistake and tries to kill himself, Simon offers him the same advice that Kamina gave him all of those years ago. You better grit those teeth! Followed by words of compassion and wisdom. We all make mistakes, sometimes we need to have a loud wake-up call, to snap out of our funk, but that doesn’t mean that we are inherently bad or wrong… We keep moving forward. This is especially amazing because when they return to Team Gurren, everyone forgives Rossiu as if nothing happened. They treat him as if he was one of their own, with a compassionate understanding of what he went through and the tough position he was in. Powerful lessons of forgiveness right here, indeed!

We learn that Simon and Nia have a love that extends beyond time and space, and through Simons love itself, they can track her to the farthest reaches of the universe, and even into other dimensions where she is hidden. It’s curious too; the Anti-Spirals are presiding in their own created aspect, between the 11th and 12th dimension, demonstrating their artificial imposition upon the universe and created reality itself. This, in a way, reflects the Demiurge's idea, a concept that we previously explored in our Hidden Spirituality episode of Final Fantasy 7!

Finally, seeing the way that the Anti-Spirals are animated and operate also reveals to us more wisdom we find within the Emerald Tablets of Thoth - The difference between the Curved Dimensions vs. Angled Dimensions, that the realm of angles is dangerous, speaking to the difference between organic vs. inorganic. The legendary Team Dai Gurren band together for one showdown, the final battle against the forces of oppression, and head out into space. When they finally meet the Anti Spirals, they appear as these bizarrely elongated ships with many faces. Hey, who the hell do you think you are, having so many faces?! These ships represent vessels of absolute despair, existing purely to inflict torment upon the spiral life forms. Their smaller ships are hands and feet with singular eyes, which speak to the manipulation of heartless beings, forcing others into submission. They do this by pushing the Cathedral Terra into a dense mass of energy, that actively drains their spiral power.

What we discover here is that they are now inside of a giant anti-spiral toroidal field. It is eerily reminiscent of the Martians synthetic Merkaba's idea from the Spirit Science Human History Movie - using natural forms and forces but for evil purposes. At first, their solution to this is to increase their spiral output, but eventually, Simon gets too tired to keep up this energy and needs a new plan. Another piece of hidden wisdom comes from their solution - to destroy the energy field at its core.

We can see this as a common problem in today's world, as often when we face a challenge, the default response from most people is to treat the symptom, instead of going to the core. Yet, going to the center, which sometimes is more complicated, has much higher rewards. It is sad, yet a very heroic end to Kittan, who surrenders his life for the more significant cause, manually flying in and destroying the anti-spiral vortex. Amazingly though, Kittan is not truly dead. It is only his body that dies, as later on, we see Kittan and the other comrades who died along the journey in Simons's vision when he becomes trapped in the labyrinth of his mind Anti-Spirals… So let’s jump there!

This is one of the final significant challenges of Team Dai Gurren, even once free of the anti-spiral field, and releasing tremendous spiral power, they are then trapped mentally by the Anti-Spirals, once again showing the method by which people are controlled in the world today. We are manipulated by our beliefs, our ideas about who and what we are, or what the future may hold, and it stops us in our path. The Anti-Spiral then walks freely around the deck of their ship, multidimensional space.

Yet, it’s not over - because the way we free ourselves from this entrapment is to find the truth within. First, we see Simon does this by connecting with the spirit of Kamina. He is presented with an alternate reality, one where they live under the capital, stealing from the beastmen and living off the riches. However, then we jump to seeing them being caught, and this version of Kamina falls into submission, begging for forgiveness. Yet, a second Kamina appears to Simon and asks Simon to choose which version he likes. One is the Kamina we all know and love, and the other is the one kneeling on the ground like a dog.

This scene presents each of us with a choice. Which reality will we choose? We are creators of our realities, but we are trapped within our minds, each of us. We have to be the ones to choose freedom, doing what’s hard to create massive change in our lives… we can do this, we can make each free ourselves of our entrapment, but it takes recognizing that we have a choice first. Simon delivers a mega punch to the false Kamina and reclaims power over his mind. In a very emotional scene, he says goodbye to Kamina for the last time, something he didn’t get to do the first time that Kamina passed.

Simon transforms and whisks himself away back to the Anti-Spiral fight and Nia. We are then shown the same scenes with the other members of team dai Gurren, what fantasy is playing out inside of everyone's minds, keeping them trapped there. Yoko’s story is especially moving. Kamina assists her in her mental release, and Viral is revealed to just want a loving family deep down in his heart, providing even more depth to the nature of his being.

And then… The entire team Dai Gurren warped to Nia just in time, and we entirely a few fantastic lines, it’s a special moment!

Even when trapped by the Karmas cycle, the dreams we left behind will open the door! Also, if the universe stands in our way, our seething blood will determine what will be! We’ll breakthrough time and space and defy all who would stop us, grab hold of our path!

The final battle is just legendary… It’s so epic that words cannot even describe it. You just have to see it. And - if you’re a true fan of the show, and want to go all the way, you can watch the movie version, which takes it to a whole other level, with each member of the team getting their galaxy-size gunman, and then they all merge into a universe-size Gurren Lagann too.

What’s impressive is that in the final fight, the Anti-Spirals decide to fight on equal terms now. They no longer resort to tactics like spiral absorbing fields or mind control, and this is another lesson for us. That our egos, the force within us that keeps us limited, inflicts fear and despair that energy can only fight you at your level. It will never be a power higher than that you can achieve, so they cannot be more reliable than the spiral beings when operating from max capacity.

When the fight is done, the anti spirals are destroyed, and the game is over. They can return home and receive cheers from the entire universe who witnessed the battle. Free of enslavement, the whole world may now explore what it means to exist unobstructed by the imposed limits of the anti-spirals.

Now… the ending of the complete series is something that sometimes gets people a little riled. Simon and Nia get married, and then suddenly, Nia disappears, robbing us of our happily ever after ending that seemed like was a shoe-in at this point. The idea is that the anti-spirals created nia’s consciousness. So she was no longer able to exist for long after they were destroyed, and to be honest - the movie version did a better job of revealing that ahead of time, as a method of the anti-spirals trying to inflict despair on Simon during their fight, because it does come as a bit of a shock for viewers at the end.

Yet, the lesson here is sound. It is revealed that the story is once more, not about what we think it was. It is Simon's journey, yes - but it wasn’t about Simon finding love; instead, it was about Simon becoming his sovereign being. It was about him finding completion as a human, as a soul, not leaning on, nor relying on others to help him lift himself. Upon the end of his story, he walks away, not sad or angry about Nia leaving, but accepting the completion of the journey. He is not trying to use spiral power to bring back people who have died because they would just get in the way of the new people coming into being.

After the credits, we also get our first and only post-credits scene, where we see Leeron and Rossiu as older men, having organized intergalactic councils of spiral life across the universe, a meeting of the greatest of civilizations to discuss the future of spiral lifeforms, and making sure that what the Anti-spirals said about spiral lifeforms destroying the universe - doesn’t come to pass. We also see Simon as a wise hermit, reflecting Odin from Norse Mythology. He is the wise wanderer, and even one of his eyes is illuminated with spiral wisdom, another reference to Odin - who only had one eye.

And so - we finally come to what may very well be the deepest parts of this entire show... What everything has been building up to from the very beginning. The birth of Cosmic Wisdom within Man. In Norse Mythology, Odin gave many sacrifices to attain divine wisdom and to understand the workings of the cosmos, and here we see this reflected within Simon. The idea here is that Simon is ultimately a man who within himself took on the responsibility of breaking through the limitations imposed upon not just him, but the entire universe. At the end of his quest, he becomes a keeper of sacred knowledge, a sage who wanders the world, taking care of others, planting the seeds of wisdom everywhere that he goes. Even though the child he helps at the end was not ready for this cosmic understanding of the spiral, he still imparts simple wisdom to the boy - the virtue and power of being gentle with one's energy, and that the lights in the sky are stars\. We are apart of something so much bigger than we know…

With that… I guess that’s it. I mean, there’s always more! One of the main theme songs of the show, Rap wa Kan no Tamashii da, teaches us amazing lessons throughout the show, every time it plays. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of rap, but I can listen to this song on repeat for hours. It teaches us to Do the impossible! See the invisible! What you’re going to do is what you want to do, just break through the roof and see the truth! It also even has lines telling us to open our third eyes, and that the revolution ain’t never going to be televised. We cannot expect the mainstream media to cover the awakening of consciousness and the transformation of humanity. We have to be the ones to connect and make it happen ourselves.

Bringing this mighty episode to a close… I just have to say - this show has such a special place in my heart. It was a massive part of my awakening journey in life and is so much more than just a show. It’s an encoded message for us all about liberation, truth, and freedom. Maybe this is just me, but I’ve had ayahuasca journeys that used the archetypes in this show to teach me lessons about myself. I can’t watch it without crying, and even writing this script brought me to tears more than a few times with just how beautiful and well presented these ideas are.

Thank you, Gurren Lagann, for being such a moving teacher in my life, and the lives of all those who connect with it. And thank you - for watching through this massive episode. I hope you enjoyed it thoroughly, and may this episode of Hidden Spirituality aid in your deepening of wisdom in all aspects of your life.

If you enjoyed this, and want to connect more in-depth, I might suggest exploring the seven-day transformation. Using a number of the same wisdom teachings found within this show, we have created a seven-day course that helps you create lasting change in your life to live a life free of the imposition and limitations upon you. If you connected with this episode, or any aspect of Spirit Science, consider checking this out by using this link or in the author's comments below.

Thank you again, be blessed, and we’ll see you again for something new, very soon!!

#spirituality #science #ascension #mystery school #spirit science

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