I Love How Everyone Is Taking Their Favorite One Piece Fan Letter Characters And Making Them Their Ocs;

god i can't believe i still haven't talked about That One penshachi moment from the new chapter of novel law on here...

SHACHI SAYS TRANS RIGHTS!!!!!!! 🏳️‍⚧️

@transfem-sanuso hi

happy birthday shachi!!! <3

Hello! I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Shanks's morality, especially with regards to Chapter 1126 (also Chapters 1079 and 1) where his crew attacked the Barto Club (also the Kid pirates and the mountain bandits). One observation is that Shanks didn't make the killing blow himself and neither did he give an explicit order to kill. But I think that if Shanks really wanted to, he could have stopped his crew from going too far. So, what do you think goes on in his head during those scenes? Did he mean for his crew to kill those people? And how does he feel about killing people to save his friends?

Thanks in advance for your answer!!!

This is such a great question! Part of what makes Shanks so interesting is how he handles conflict; he has a very even temperament, and his priorities during any dispute are always A.) the safety of those he cares about, and B.) de-escalation. A takes precedence over B, of course, which we see firsthand in the mountain bandits incident.

When Higuma breaks a bottle over his head, Shanks' initial reaction is to be concerned on Makino's behalf, and to take the burden of the conflict off her shoulders by keeping her uninvolved. It's just plain ol' good character writing, because it shows exactly the type of person he is through the subtlety of his actions. Hell, he doesn't even let her touch the broken glass, instead choosing to pick it up himself -- a great visual to sum up Shanks, who is constantly the first to clean up the mess and take responsibility, so long as no one else gets hurt. (Note that Oda draws attention to the very same hand that Shanks ends up losing when he saves Luffy... nice foreshadowing.)

Then of course we get this gem of a one-liner from Shanks, which is just so effortlessly cool. As a pirate, Shanks knows conflict better than anyone, which is why he explicitly tells Luffy not to resort to violence in situations where it is unnecessary. I really like this too, because it shows how Shanks is always walking the middle ground; he's not "above" violence, but he's not going to go around punching every guy he sees, because that proves nothing but incompetence. In a battle of egos, Shanks is the man with the level head; he knows exactly how powerful he is and refuses to stoop any lower for the sake of pride. It's not vanity -- it's just the truth.

However, when the mountain bandits target Luffy, Shanks' crew does not hesitate to use violence in order to protect him, as well as the village. Something I also find interesting is that Shanks does not lift a finger up until the brush with the sea king; his crew is always willing to step in on his behalf when needed, and this is because of who he is as a person and a leader.

Shanks is not hot-headed, but he's certainly no pushover. As an emperor, he knows what he must do when someone invades his territory and burns his flag -- otherwise, he wouldn't have territory to begin with. Note here how he mentions who specifically it would impact if he let Bartolomeo's actions slide: friends and allies. Again, in any conflict, the safety of those he cares about takes precedence. So, naturally, he has no choice but to teach them all a lesson.

As you mentioned, he did not give explicit orders to sink Bartolomeo's ship, but given the nature of Shanks' relationship with his crew, I highly doubt they would ever do something that Shanks actively disagreed with. It's really just a matter of lightening the load by handling certain matters for him. (Which is really thoughtful, actually, when you consider how bogged down by responsibility Shanks is. Gives him one less thing to worry about.)

We should also remember that this is One Piece. If Oda makes it unclear whether or not a character has survived, there's a very good chance they're alive and well. So I don't think that Yasopp was shooting to kill, and I don't think we've seen the last of Kidd or Barto either. But, hypothetically, I do think Shanks would kill to save someone he cared about if he knew there was no other way out of the conflict. While Shanks mostly aims to de-escalate, he does not hesitate to retaliate against anyone who harms friends or allies. But for Shanks, figuratively speaking, I think it's less about the act of killing and more about putting himself in the line of fire. Violence (with the intent to kill) reads as an extension of his self-sacrificial tendencies to me, because Shanks does not enjoy it.

The first time we witness any serious, violent action from Shanks, it is directly triggered by the stress/anxiety from seeing a sudden vision of his allies and crew getting blown to bits. I would say he panics, even, but others might disagree. (Check out chapter one again, though -- Shanks totally freaks out when he loses sight of Luffy, too. He loses his cool when the people he cares about are unexpectedly put in danger.)

So, if Shanks were to kill, I would imagine it would be in a very dire situation where the threat is imminent and the consequence of not acting fast enough would be many, many deaths -- or perhaps just the death of a friend/ally. Then it is likely that he would put himself in harm's way instead, either to deliver the killing blow or die trying.

Yamato

There’s a lot of discussion on Yamato’s gender. And the one take I see particularly often when it’s brought up, is about how Kaido ‘forced’ Yamato to be a man.

So, I wanted to explore this train of thought. And explain why this just isn’t true.

First, let’s explore every time Yamato has been referred to by feminine pronouns/gender.

Within the canon of the text, these are the only times Yamato has been called female, daughter, or princess.

(Chapter 984, pg. 17)

The first time is right after Yamato is properly introduced to the audience, and is following a panel where Luffy questions his gender.

(Chapter 984, pg. 17)

Here, Yamato explicitly says that he chose to be a man, like Oden was.

So it appears that the introduction Oda box was more to indicate Yamato’s birth sex, to confirm to the audience that yes, he was born a woman. But Yamato himself is confirming that while he was born female, he is choosing to identify himself as a man, due to how Oden inspired him.

After this moment, Luffy affirms Yamato’s gender by calling him by the nickname “Yama-o”, which is what he calls Law and Kid by as well.

(the rest under the cut. this is an EXTREMELY long post)

Continua a leggere

I hate shanks twin so much

this made me laugh out loud, thank you anon

seeing he's the leader of the god's knights it's a sentiment i completely understand and share. however i'm still excited to see how this whole thing plays out, it might be an appealing subplot storyline, and i also can't wait to see how shanks will react to all this lmao. i love analyzing shanks through his reactions and this seems like it will be quite the wild ride for him lol

months ago, while mindlessly scrolling through twitter, i came across an analysis of this particular panel from chapter 434 (i can’t remember who wrote the thread, i’m so sorry </3), and i really want to talk about it too.

(EDIT: original author of the thread is @goingbuggy!!! go check out their metas, they're amazing)

the thread was focusing on the way the speech bubble covers shanks's scar completely, and how it can be seen as a sign of vulnerability. oda is using shanks’s own words to hide his suffering, letting his physical scars be representative of his emotional ones, even though the event he’s talking about is completely unrelated to the way he got his scar.

in fact, we know shanks is not ashamed of the scar, since just a couple of pages after this one he mentions it directly as a way to start the conversation about blackbeard:

he doesn’t have a problem with the marking itself, it’s just used as a narrative device, a tool to highlight (in an extradiegetic way) his emotional wounds and the pain he always tries so hard to hide, in an effort to keep his usual composure.

the original author of the thread compared the panel from chapter 434 to another, way older one, from the very first chapter:

this takes place right after shanks loses his left arm to save luffy’s life. it’s obviously a very emotionally charged moment, which means the best thing to do would be showing a close-up of shanks’s reaction to everything that’s unfolding in front of him at that moment (luffy’s cries, or even his own reaction to his sacrifice). oda, however, chooses not to do that; instead, he hides half of shanks’s face, just like he did in chapter 434. the way the moment is portrayed tells the reader shanks is willing to hide his pain in an even deeper way than what he’s showing by smiling at luffy right after getting his arm chopped off.

it’s a great way to explain an important characteristic without stating it right away. it's a focal point of shanks's character: it's his way of showing luffy he cares about him and would much rather hide his suffering than pass it onto him, but it's also oda's way of conveying that shanks is much more vulnerable than what he allows himself to show.

having said that, the reason oda chose to bring back this framing in chapter 434 appears obvious: shanks misses buggy.

it’s plain to see, especially if we look at the whole page.

shanks tries so hard to act collected when talking about buggy, but it’s obvious that he’s hurting. his wording makes it clear he’s trying to detach from him (“that’s the end of it” + “rumors have it”); he acts like buggy doesn’t exist in his thoughts anymore, when it’s obvious he still does. he feels remorse, he regrets letting buggy go. he’s scared he might have been in the wrong. he knows he hurt buggy, but he desperately wishes he didn’t.

all of this weighs on him in a way he isn’t used to, so he locks these feelings up, thinking of them only in relation to something that happened in the past, and as so, stays in the past. he smiles while talking about him and buggy, but it’s a remorseful smile. he cuts the conversation short even though he vividly remembers what happened between them, and as he does so, his words hide the scar. he desperately tries to patch things up in his mind by exclusively clinging onto the good memories they share, but the remorse always creeps up on him. he always smiles when talking about buggy, even when he’s talking directly to him. but his smile always ends up looking sour.

this is exactly why i hate it when people say shanks doesn’t care about buggy. oda wouldn’t have given these panels so much depth if he didn’t want to show just how much shanks actually cares. even just the fact the panel we are focusing on directly mirrors a panel from the first chapter, one so important and impactful, should tell you everything you need to know.

buggy will always be shanks’s weakness. caring so much about someone when you’re a pirate of that caliber is difficult in itself, even more so when that someone is so far away from you now.

Sabolaw my favorite rarepair in one piece

I'm sorry

i baked a cake to celebrate law's birthday earlier today,

i think it came out pretty cute! i'm sure my law action figures loved it too despite their seemingly uninterested looks...

bonus picture of The Tiny