Based On This Tweet

"So PTSD, huh?"

A h-heartfelt reunion..?

Bonus

haunting

cora lives and he just dgaf anymore

chosen family

I know people looooove to insinuate that Zoro doesn’t like Usopp because of Water 7, but I am coming to Zoro’s defense on this (not how you think!). Usopp and Luffy were both acting and reacting based on very heightened emotions. Usopp was utilizing a very common tactic— hurt before you get hurt. Not his best moment, but I think it’s understandable under the circumstances. Luffy, because he’s stubborn and also a little bratty, then countered with a classic baby brother tactic— when they go low, you go lower. The problem with this is that they aren’t just playing in the backyard. People have left their homes and families to follow Luffy. They’re fugitives. The government wants them dead. In normal circumstances, they’d fight and ignore each other and make up. But they can’t do that in this situation because it’s not a game. Zoro was trying to get the two of them to see that. Luffy may be silly. He may be lighthearted and carefree, but he is the captain on their very real pirate crew. There is no time for petty strife. If you quit, you have to mean it. If you remove someone, you also have to mean it. By the time their fight comes around, both Luffy and Usopp already regret their choices and want to just move on, but Zoro forces BOTH of them to face this discomfort and play through it so that they both understand the weight of their choices.

THAT BEING SAID!!!!!!!!! It’s not like Zoro was like “and FUCK that Longnose”… he was the first one of the Romance Dawn trio to ask Usopp to join them. He knows Usopp’s got a big heart. He knows what Usopp brings to the table, even if Usopp doesn’t. He was LIVID when he saw what Franky had done to Usopp!!! But he’s also been around. He’s a famous bounty hunter. For quite a while he was the most famous person on the crew. He’s probably seen tons of crews and watched their dynamics and understands that hierarchy exists for a reason. If you’re following someone without conviction, you’re risking your life every day for someone who can’t stand on his own morals. They can’t afford to do that. And it seems like in these ‘Zoro Hates Usopp’ arguments, they very often leave out the fact that Zoro told Luffy that if he didn’t stand by his choices, he’d leave the crew, too. He was just telling them to stand on the business they’d put out into the world, which I think is a perfectly fair stance to have. We all know that Zoro takes the words he says and the words others say very seriously. This is an extension of that. But it doesn’t mean he hates Usopp or Luffy. He just recognized that if they’re all allowed to hop on and off the crew, and if they’re not able to articulate their feelings without being mutinous, they were doomed to fail.

(I’m going to pause here to acknowledge that Zoro treated Sogeking in the same way that he’s always treated Usopp. They cut up together and he still takes care of him in his own weird way and he trusts him as a crew member. Think about how he treated Robin when he wasn’t sure about her. He didn’t do that here!! It was like “old times”. He still viewed him as a member of the crew.)

And THEN!! AND THEN!!!!! When Sanji tells everyone that he overheard Usopp’s rehearsals and that he intends to come back to the crew, Zoro still says that Usopp needs to apologize to their captain. Because he’s. You know. The captain. Mutiny is a serious action. You can’t just not acknowledge it. It needs to be faced. And Zoro is all hardass about it like “if the first thing he says isn’t an apology we’re leaving him” and then what does he do? He pretends he can’t hear him not apologizing. Usopp goes on for a while, and he pretends he can’t hear anything. And then as soon as Usopp apologizes, he smiles!!! Because he knows it means Usopp is coming home!!!!!!

And I know. I can already hear it. “Well, why didn’t he just not insist on that stuff???” Because the crew needed to figure out that behaving that way had the potential to cost them in ways that are uncomfortable! Yes, we don’t see Luffy doing the same. But I think it’s important to note that they are a crew and there’s essentially only one actual assigned role and that’s Luffy’s role as captain. Even if his decision is stupid they need to follow it. That’s the choice they’ve made. And they can be kind of loosey goosey in every regard except that one. Because if his final say means nothing, that could have catastrophic consequences for everyone. Plus, as readers, we get to see Luffy’s discomfort and remorse plenty. He weeps and tells Zoro that accepting the duel is hard and he hates it and Zoro basically tells him he has to lie in the bed he’s made for himself or he isn’t fit to be captain. And Luffy clearly felt very uncomfortable with the fact that his knee jerk reaction may have cost him his bestie/brother/playmate. He couldn’t even smile convincingly about the prospect of leaving Usopp behind. He felt a level of regret that I’m not sure we see him feel again. I think Zoro put them through their paces pretty equally. Zoro saw Luffy regret his choice and forced him to stand by it, which is his job as a captain. And he insisted that Usopp apologize for his choice, which is his job as a crew member.

Zoro’s intent wasn’t to take sides. He wasn’t operating under the belief that the captain is the only one that can be right. He was trying to get all of them to understand that exploding, quitting, and coming back without acknowledging the source of strife is not a sustainable method of communication for a crew. If they can’t hash it out and own their mistakes or mean what they say, they can’t fully trust each other. And they need a captain with a clear vision. There’s no room for wavering unless they’re ready to lose their lives.

And Usopp comes back and he’s still clinging to Zoro and climbing on him and using him as a shield, so I think they’re just fine.

whumptober day 4 hallucination

from this post

"the big silent guy at the back isn't the one you should be worried about..."

Small continuation of this role swap doctor Sanji art bc I couldn't get out of my head how funny it is that it meant that Zoro and Mihawks fight happens outside an A&E in this universe