I Stg His Powers Work In The Real World Too Because I Smile And Laugh Literally Anytime Hes On Screen

Oh boy I thought people were over the Rayleigh-Zoro parallel being a 1 for 1 thing. But I see with this chapter they're not and now they're doing the same with Sanji and Gabán.

Rayleigh was a parallel to both Zoro and Sanji and Gaban's the same.

Rayleigh's a swordsman but he also uses his legs to fight while Gabán uses two axes (which ironically makes for 3 weapons + 1 pair of legs, it's probably just chance but who knows with Oda).

Rayleigh made fun of Zoro's stupidity the same way Sanji would, he's got a got a scar similar to Zoro's.

Rayleigh's a big drinker like Zoro and Gaban's very into love like Sanji.

Gaban's linked to Wano like Zoro and they both like to stir shit up.

Both Sanji-Zoro and Gabán-Rayleigh will not hesitate to argue against their captains if they feel like it's needed, so far Gabán and Zoro have only been shown to do it when they're particularly worried (both shown in chapter 1139), meanwhile Sanji and Rayleigh will scold Luffy-Roger for more mundane stuff as much as when they're worried.

So like outwardly Gabán-Sanji and Zoro-Rayleigh parallels are super obvious but in truth it's a mix because Luffy's crew is not just a copy of Roger's.

(also don't comment by saying that both Rayleigh and Zoro are 1st mate/Vice Captain as a parallel, Oda confirmed in vol. 102's SBS Zoro isn't, which we've been knew but apparently not everyone, anyway the idea of the Strawhats having a 1st mate is just weird when them not caring about hierarchy bc they're a family is so important)

All blue 🐠🐟

maybe i’m too much of a staunch “atsushi is kind of a dick” purist but i actually don’t think him witnessing dazai’s abuse will actually change all that much in terms of the direct relationships between these characters and how they act towards each other.

part of it is i think sskk’s ultimate arc is moving past the spectre of dazai haunting them, and part of it is like. akutagawa is (was..?) an abuser too. it would make no sense for atsushi to flip on dazai for akutagawa because it’s either he believes redemption is real and dazai has changed (which like, he objectively has, regardless of whether he handled his relationship with akutagawa well) and akutagawa can change too, or abuse forever tarnishes your moral character and then atsushi must hate both these guys (which he clearly doesn’t).

ultimately bsd has a complex relationship with abuse that’s often uncomfortable to acknowledge, like the fact that akutagawa has abused two women on screen and hasn’t actually made proper amends either, and the fact that bsd both acknowledges that the mafia is a cruel organisation based in child abuse and exploitation that largely operates by grooming children into violence, and also posits that the mafia is kind of a necessary entity for the safety of the city. child abuse in bsd is interpersonal, yes, but it’s also a larger system of exploitation of ability users, largely for combat, and practically every character participates in that system to a degree.

even the agency has child members, and while for some it can be argued that the agency saved them from bad situations, kenji, for example, seemingly lived a normal peaceful life until he was recruited to be a child soldier.

ultimately i don’t think the wish fulfilment scene where atsushi explicitly rags on dazai for treating akutagawa badly will ever happen, especially considering this isn’t news for him and atsushi hasn’t been sympathetic to akutagawa about it before. i’m not saying it’s not going to be called out, but i don’t think the #dazaiisoverparty is happening guys hold your horses

They hang out in canon (delusional)

The implication of Vegapunk's mentioning of history getting rid of the rare races

within the larger context of both the rest of his speech as well as what we've seen of these rare races seems to be that they are being hunted down not because of any perceived strength but because of connections to the void century.

I think it's more obvious with Pudding, as the three-eyed race are capable of reading poneglyphs. There is a clear through line present as to why the World Government would view it as necessary to kill off the three-eyed tribe. They could easily uncover and spread the history that the government is trying so desperately to keep in the past.

With King, I'm not sure what connection the Lunarians could have to the void century, but I am fairly certain that they have to have one. If the World Government only wanted them for their strength, they would not be trying to eradicate them, and instead be trying to either enslave them or otherwise use them. But thinking back to Wano, and Kaido and Kings Backstory, it is fairly clear that the government had every intention of killing King after they finished experimenting on him, making his strength a secondary and a convenient thing that could be toyed with before killing him (experiments that are most likely linked to the creation of the Seraphim). Why not just recruit Lunarians to the Marines like they did with the giants, another race known for their strength? Unless they also have a connection to the void century that would make their existence far more problematic for the World Government. Perhaps the Lunarians were large players in the 100 year war, much like how those with the will of D were implied to be. Or maybe it's because they were said to once be the residence on top of the Red Line before it was overtaken by the Celestial Dragons.

I honestly don't think we have enough info to go off of yet to properly make predictions, but I do believe that King, Pudding and the like are going to become very important moving forward.

Concept:

The dynamic of Ranpo and Yosano as kids is really interesting to me.

You have Ranpo who thought he had an ability and it saved him. He flaunts it to the public and takes great pride in displaying it.

He’s smarter than anyone else and he made that a strength of his instead of something to fear.

And then you have Yosano who has an ability and it hurt her. Her ability was abused and she was locked away when she tried to run.

She knows she can do so much good and that terrifies her.

I personally don’t think that Ranpo understood the weight of having an ability until they met.

Yes he was kidnapped for it and I’m sure Fukuzwa told him tales and the importance of this gifted business permit.

But I like to think meeting Yosano reminded Ranpo that he’s not untouchable.

That even now he’s still human.

I like to think they saw pieces of themselves in each other. Parts of them that they had long since lost.

Ranpo saw in Yosano the fear of one in a world full of monsters. Yosano saw in Ranpo her earlier confidence, when her ability was a point of pride.

That Ranpo tries to return to her with that butterfly pin he found in the wreckage.

Because you are human.

Because you are extradionary not because of your gift but because you are kind.

You wanted to help them.

And now I’m going to help you.

"I'm sure he's got nothing to do with me!" says Luffy and I was waiting for him to say it. For him to hear all of this Nika lore and declare that, nope, I don't care, I'm not Nika, I'm not a liberator. It's just such a Luffy thing to do. But I know many fans actually will be shocked with Luffy's answer here or will just dismiss it. I have seen many opinions before that Luffy was always a liberator by choice, so becoming Nika is just natural course of events for him and he will have no problem embracing his role in the bigger scheme of things. Some even complained they hate that Luffy is Nika because they don't want Luffy to be the "fated hero" but instead a "from nobody to the king of the world" trope. But nope! Luffy just noped all of this himself.

Luffy is not a liberator and he's not an altruistic hero, he doesn't go from island to island aiming to save people, and if you think he wanted to, then please remember Fishmen Island and how unhappy he was with the idea of being a hero:

And now if you think Luffy changed since then because Dressrosa happened, then please remember what he asked of Momonosuke in Wano:

Yep, that's right. Luffy still *doesn't have any interest* in becoming a hero. If you think he's alright with that and changed his mind, then you're just not paying attention to him, sorry to say that. Luffy has been pretty consistent about this too and now he declared it yet again in Elbaf. It's the third time already.

You just think it's not a big deal because he so easily changed his mind in Fishmen Island, but it happened only because he had an actual reason to do that. Jimbei promised Luffy all the meat he wants. He gave him a *personal reason* to act like a hero, which is why Luffy agreed. And he did the same in Dressrosa. He wouldn't liberate that country if he didn't get attached first to Law and Rebecca (yes, in this order), and his crew to tontattas. They always do it for someone particular, for their friends. It's the same in Wano too, Luffy's constant motivation is Tama, Momo and Kinemon. He wants them to be happy, most of all, and he even says as much when he defeats Kaido: "I want a world where all of my friends can eat as much as they like".

There, he doesn't do it altruistically because he hates oppresion and villains who thrive on pain of common people and he can't stand seeing it. Yes, he probably thinks it's unfair, but he also grew up in Goa Kingdom, the very definition of unfair regime. He saves oppressed people only when they are his friends or has some other personal interest involved. He defeats the Marine base in Shells Town for Koby (and Zoro, later). He defeats Don Krieg so he can repay his food debt to Baratie. He defeats Arlong for Nami. He fights Wapol for Chopper (who saved Nami) and who he already considers his friend because of that. He fights for the Giants (Little Garden) and Vivi (Alabasta), Conis (Skypiea), Robin (Water 7 and Enies Lobby), Brook (Thriller Bark), Hachi (Sabaody) etc. Though, he does make friends rather easily, so usually it's not that big of a deal. But he isn't going out of his way to places he reads about in the newspapers that need to be liberated, he instead cares more for his own dream. He doesn't enter a certain island with the idea in mind that goes like "if I see some injustice here, I'm gonna bring this shit down". It's the other way around. He makes friends and realizes they're unhappy.

He wants them to be happy again and to live without regrets, and that's why he brings the shit down, whatever it is that makes people he cares about feel so unhappy. Because he thinks this is at least something he can do for his friends. Luffy doesn't think he can do a lot of things, he can't do much at all, but he can do one thing: beat up a guy when needed.

He knows how regret feels like ever since he believed Sabo died, he's not gonna sit there and do nothing next time something like this happens. That's why it's so important for him, to make sure his friends are happy. And that's why he beats up people and liberates countries. It's not for justice, he simply wants his friends to be happy.

But wait a moment, Luffy also wants freedom. Yes, he does. He wants to be the King of the Pirates, because for him it means to be free. And that's how he actually speaks about Nika as well:

He wants the freedom for himself. Isn't it funny that he thinks he already achieved it though?

And before you're disgusted by how selfish Luffy actually is, hear me out: Luffy is simply not a martyr. He won't die or sacrfice himself for the world to liberate it. He will instead die for the world if he thinks that will make his friends happy. Preferably though, he would want to survive and eat that meat with them, and be happy together.

Still, if you want him to be a liberator of a whole world it is actually possible, you just need to make it personal for Luffy, like I suggested. For example, put a person or multpile people who want to save/destroy the world (whichever option you fancy) on Luffy's crew. Luffy always cares for dreams of his crewmates and will always support them (because fullfilling their dreams will make them happy), so he would become a liberator if that helps them. But he would do it for them, not for the world.

Luffy is not a hero because he has a golden heart and a strong sense of justice. He's a hero when his friends are in danger instead, because instead of a golden heart, he simply has a big heart and makes friends wherever he goes. A martyr-like hero who sacrfices himself for people without caring for his own wellbeing is noble, but it's also not a healthy mentality, believe it or not. For starters, if you never care enough for yourself and are ready to throw your life away for a concept, what will happen with people who love you and care for you? Is it fair towards them to throw your life away without caring who you're leaving behind and how they will feel about it? Do you even care then for their feelings if your pursuit of greater good is more important to you? You can save the world and make people you love sad and unhappy, and like they don't even care anymore to live, because you were the one who made them happy and now you're gone. Did you save the world for them or destroyed it for them instead, as the result?

Luffy has his own interest in saving his friends too: so he's not alone again. Humans aren't selfless beings, but it doesn't automatically make us bad people either. And sometimes, while pursuing selfish things, we do something that appear to be extremely selfless. But at the bottom of it: we also do it for themselves, even if it kills us.

Tokyo Babylon taught me that every act is selfish, even if it appears like we do it for someone else: we simply want to feel better about ourselves then. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as we don't lose the sight of other people's feelings on our way. We can always share, after all, and that sharing is the bridge between the lone islands that people are.

Luffy, if he dies, will also say, just like Seishiro: "I didn't do it for you. I did everything by my own choice". For myself. Despite the fact it is also true he does it to make his friends happy. Being selfish and being selfless is like two sides of the same coin and both choices can end up actually hurting people. In the first case, because you care too much about yourself and too little about feelings of others, and in second case because you care too little about yourself and still too little about feelings of people that love and care for you. Can you spot the thing in common here?

CW: religious symbolism, mention of suicide, severed arm

[Read from left to right]

Speaking to the memory of him.

Egghead from Stella's POV is very funny.