This Was Not The Plan

Happy birthday to the best boy and cutie, Sanji 😍

happy birthday to our strongest warrior

The day Oda reveals Brook's life before he became a pirate will be the day I rest

OK correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the main 'yin/yang' parallel with Atsushi and Akutagawa is not something like 'this one is bad but secretly has a good side and this one is good but secretly has a bad side'.

I feel like it's more about 'who they are at their core vs who they choose to be'.

At his core Akutagawa is kind and at his core Atsushi is not. But despite this Atsushi tries every day to make the kinder choices and I love him so much for it. He has to work so hard to be good.

He wants to be a bitch SO bad I know he does but he tries his best to help people and be nice (sometimes he fails but that's OK <3)

Atsushi doesn't always WANT to help people, a lot of the time he's selfish and scared, but he does help people anyway. He keeps helping people over and over again. There's still some selfish motivation to it, and his initial motivation for helping people was because the headmaster told him that's all he was worth, but overall he does care about the people he helps and it weighs on him if he fails to save them. And of course, as the series goes on he starts helping people more because he can rather than because he feels like he needs to.

In Akutagawa's case, he's still capable of being kind but his environment led him into being someone who chooses to hurt people. But he's always been a protector at heart. In the start he was bad compared to Atsushi because he was choosing to hurt people and keep the cycle of abuse going. Just like how Atsushi developed in why he saved people, Akutagawa starts to get redeemed when he chooses to not just act on his rage. Not only does he start to spare people, but he speaks more kindly to them (apologising to Higuchi and telling Kyouka he's proud of her). It all culminates into the moment he chooses to help Atsushi and sacrifice himself for him, going back to his core value of being a protector. Even when he's finally revived, he keeps this role in his new position as Aya's Knight.

I kind of see the streaks of white in Akutagawa and the streaks of black in Atsushi not as their 'hidden sides' but as their fundamental selfs. That's who they are at their core, and their main colours (black for Akutagawa and white for Atsushi) are how they're presented to everyone else and how they try to have people see them as.

Girl time

And the Loki-Luffy parallels just keep growing!

This one is particularly poignant not just because of the fact they both looked up to strong pirates, but the circumstances of why they looked up to pirates are also connected.

From what little we can glean of Luffy's early childhood, he had basically no one looking after him and no other friends his own age. Makino is the only adult living on the same island as him who treats him kindly but even then she's not his guardian. Loki was the pariah of Elbaf who had even less of a support system than young Luffy.

When a child is abandoned and ostracized, they'll naturally throw themselves at any scrap of potential positive affirmation they can find no matter the source. Even if said source is socially frowned upon like piracy. Sometimes it works out really well like with Luffy and Shanks. Other times, it puts the child in danger and sets the wrong example like with Loki and Rocks.

Gifs of all of Lucy’s ability animations in mayoi

The resource on the mayoi wiki has them all sped up so I slowed them down to what I think is their original speed. Sharing is caring so here you go

And just when I thought the parallels between Loki and Luffy would stop...

nami is usually the one who has a soft spot for children, so it means a lot for robin to be the crewmember bonney latched on to. robin who cut her hair and put on a dark dress so she could look similar to her childhood self. and bonney, who is finally comfortable and safe enough to look her real age

Lucy should get to have a crush on Yosano, as a treat.

She's her favourite customer at the cafe. At first she was too shy to directly talk to Yosano about anything other than her order and couldn't make eye contact without going completely red.

Yosano is one of the prettiest women Lucy has ever seen, smart and confident, she admires the way Yosano walks into any room and looks like she belongs there. Lucy would find herself idly watching Yosano's hands, they're always so well manicured and look like they'd be so soft to hold. The hands of a doctor, they move with skilled purpose, even when just holding her coffee cup.

It was Yosano who started talking to Lucy first. Just casual topics, "Has it been busy today?" type of thing and Lucy nearly fell over herself to answer at first, but it quickly became easier to talk to Yosano. She has such an inviting smile and her laughter is like music to Lucy. Even when Yosano is complaining about her work load, Lucy can't help but be enthralled.

Yosano starts coming in to the cafe more regularly, taking her lunch breaks down there, or stopping in after work. She always sits near Lucy and waits to be served by her. Lucy has her order memorized so they get to talking immediately.

Yosano has invited Lucy out, she suggests they should go shopping together and get lunch out sometime, that way Lucy doesn't have to be distracted by her work whilst they talk. She wants to take Lucy sightseeing, show her more of Yokohama and build up her confidence about living in a new city.

Lucy can't help but feel like half the places Yosano suggests are dating spots, but that must be her imagination. Surely. The compliments Yosano pays her and the way Lucy's also caught Yosano watching her when she thinks she's not looking, must be a coincidence.