There Is Something About Garp And Ace's Relationship That Is So Tragically Poetic.

happy neil banging out the tunes day to everyone who celebrates

Yasopp I would gladly trade your life for Ace's

Yasopp I hope your son puts one between your fucking eyes

ya gotta stop caring what people think and start being extremely weird. but never cruel. i think that might save you

i know that zoro looks at marco and feels indescribable.

because isn’t he just zoro’s worst nightmare, his worst case scenario, all his fears personified? the second in command, the right hand man, reduced to a living memory after his crew was killed repeatedly in front of his eyes. then in retaliation to his captain being mercilessly slaughtered, he waged a war on the murderer and he lost terribly. marco walked out of the payback war with less family than he walked in with and their fight of revenge became a scramble of retreat. marco who lost izou in wano as if the world would not allow him a second of respite from grief. marco who in present time has to sit with the knowledge that the scattered, remaining remnants and allies of the whitebeard pirates are being hunted for sport, and he can’t do anything about it. marco who never stops losing what he loves even when it's doubted that he could lose any more.

i know that zoro looks at marco and feels fear, genuine terror, at that fate. the strawhats are zoro’s world, his love for them is boundless. his love for his captain? nothing could hope to compare. zoro losing any one of his crew mates would irreversibly destroy him, and he looks at a man who has lost it all. thatch, oden, little oars jr, ace, whitebeard, izou; well: sanji, brook, franky, usopp, nami, luffy. does he feel pity? does he feel kindred? what does zoro think when he sees marco?

marco is so powerful; the whitebeard pirates were untouchable pinnacles of the pirate world. marco was the righthand man of the strongest man in the world for (over) thirty years, a man who stood shoulder to shoulder with gold roger himself. does zoro train harder knowing that or does it momentarily cause him to falter in worry about the futility of strength? marco the phoenix, first division commander of the whitebeard pirates, lives alone on a secluded island with the company of villagers and graves. he spent thirty years aboard the moby dick and it came crumbling in months. zoro must look at that, and think about how his world could slip through his fingers if he lowers his guard from threat for a moment. worry must claw at his throat as he struggles to find what to say; staring at the embodiment of strength, intelligence and kindness and who's fate is a quiet life he never asked for.

i know that zoro looks at marco and feels indescribable

This scene we all know, where Sanji kicks Luffy, speaks to me in a very deep way.

While of course, Sanji's goal was to hopefully push Luffy away, and put his life as a member of the Straw Hat crew behind him for good, this scene particularly shows us just how much hatred Sanji held towards himself. His captain knows this, hence his quote:

"No matter how much you kick me, you're the one getting hurt."

The way he speaks to Luffy, slowly more agitated with his kicks and facial expressions, tells us something important.

"Go away." "Get out of my sight." "Get out of my face, now!"

Can easily be classified as Sanji talking to himself and the shame he felt, placed back into the core of his trauma, surrounded by his abusers.

Sanji was kicking himself.

If I counted correctly, Sani kicks Luffy a total of 61 times, including his final blow, which is not shown in this clip. I've written extensively before about how well Oda writes about trauma, and how he implements buddhist philosophy into his works.

This is just my own obsession, reading into things. However, in the Dhammapada, a collection of the Buddha's teachings, verse 61 tells us the following:

"If a person seeking a companion cannot find one who is better than or equal to him, let him resolutely go on alone."

Sanji was drowning in shame and trauma over being surrounded by his abusers again, and he tried to walk the path alone, convincing himself it was the right thing to do. To sacrifice himself.

Luffy did not fall for it, and accepted every blow, emphasizing how Sani truly hated himself, as victims of abuse regularly do.

This scene is immensely powerful for that reason.

I’m sorry but I actually refuse to use V!nsm0ke when tagging for my ZoSan stuff. That’s NOT HIS NAME. He is Black Leg Sanji (Roronoa Sanji in my dreams) and I WILL NOT USE THAT SURNAME BECUSE AN ETERNITY OF FUCK YOU’S TO THAT FAMILY. It makes me irrationally angry. He has ANOTHER NAME. BLACK. LEG. SANJI. ITS EVEN SIMILAR TO HIS ACTUAL DAD, RED LEG ZEFF. HOW ADORABLE IS THAT, HUH? WHY ARE YALL CALLING HIM V!NSM0KE ?!?!?!?!?

one piece fic recs

all of these will be sfw! aside from gen fics, these fics will include: zosan, zolaw, cross guild, zolu, sanami, sanuso, and saboala

gen/found family

thicker than water by nevermordor - law character study & law's relationship with the heart pirates. this is a must-read

build you up by nevermordor - usopp & franky!!! their dynamic means so much to me

requiem for lab rats by @missingn000 - what if sanji fought king instead of queen? what if they realized they were traumatized by the same man? WHAT THEN? this is an incredible fight scene and character study

is there anything so undoing as a daughter by @missingn000 - doflamingo & baby 5 from crocodile's pov. this fic made me insane, i can't recommend it enough

it's only blood by @missingn000 - goth family (mihawk & zoro & perona), this fic is absolutely beautiful

greatest gift of all by SoccerSarah01 - ASL brothers with younger luffy, SO CUTE

zosan

Letters on a Blackboard by Hazel_Athena - single dad zoro and teacher sanji. this was everything i needed, it was amazing

Veracity by Hazel_Athena - zoro gets hit by a truth spell...

Make A Fuss, Why Don't You? by Hazel_Athena - sanji wants to dote on zoro, and zoro wants to be doted on, but neither of them know how to communicate that (they figure it our eventually though)

don't look too long, or you'll forget to fall by Resacon1990 - zosan 5 + 1, i loved this so much

cross guild

(all of these are genderbent wlw - i love cross guild in all forms but all of my sfw recs happened to be yuri)

Caramel popcorn, belladonna-sweet by inpolariis - I'll just copy the summary because it really captures the essence of the fic: "Alternative title: Buggy and the two bad bitches she pulled by being silly goofy"

Pink and Purple by AcesCorazon - this one is buggy/mihawk, featuring doting girlfriend mihawk. it's absolutely adorable

Coexisting (but just barely) by AcesCorazon (WIP) - this one is also buggy/mihawk and so cute!

zolu

mithridatism by swordsmans (series) - there are two fics in this series, one from sanji's pov and the other from zoro's, and both are outstanding character studies

But Patience Boasts by Augment - sanji pov, dealing with zoro and sanji's conflicting feelings on love

zolaw

Cut My Feelings Off Clean by Augment - one of my favorite one piece fics. a brilliant law pov and character exploration of both law and zoro

things not seen by nevermordor - this fic is really special to me because it introduced me to this ship and i loved the exploration of law's experiences and views on religion

sanami

Righting Wrongs by Cherry_Sundae - this is sanami yuri with transfemme sanji and it's so important to me. i love the idea of sanji realizing she's trans during the timeskip period and this fic was everything i wanted it to be

sanuso

Home, Where You Are by kiite - short and sweet sanuso, i love this ship and the exploration of their similarities

acesan

Sing In Me, O Muse by LorettaFryingPan - acesan yuri! this fic explores both their insecurities and it's so so sweet

saboala

Sins of the Father by kiite - short and sweet saboala <3 i adore this ship