playpirateswithyou
I used to be normal. Then I got to the end of Thriller Bark.
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Latest Posts by playpirateswithyou
A personal favorite dynamic of mine is ‘I would die for you’ and ‘Die? Who said you could die!? No! I will drag you back from the afterlife my self!’. Like yes the ‘I’d die for you’ energy is great, but when the other person responds with basically a ‘like hell you will!’ It’s probably one of my favorite things.
it’s not fair!!! I didn’t go into one piece wanting another ship and now I’m out here everyday rallying on the side of the highway w giant poster for all forms of luffy n zoro. platonic. romantic. besties. captain n first mate. holding hands. gentle forehead kisses. above all; soulmates. I’m overwhelmed by the devotion and loyalty and trust. that they immediately belonged together from the moment they met. how effortless their relationship is. how it doesn’t need a label or definition bc the important part is they love each other, and will stay together as long as they physically can. they are each other’s axis. sun and moon. everytime i think about them i want to talk about them. when will the madness end
This is so true it literally gets called out in chapter 1128:
Every so often I recall the funniest blink-and-you-miss-it moment on Dressrosa, when Luffy picks up Zoro and Law and is about to jump off a plateau. Law is panicking but Zoro is calm and steady, his captain’s arm around his neck in a chokehold, ready to go wherever his captain chooses to take him. (CHAPTER 746) (Ep 682)
Remember how much Zoro hated being hauled around by Luffy pre-timeskip? Pepperidge farm This ZoLu shipper remembers! Zoro used to hit Luffy, yell at him, threaten to cut him for physically manhandling him (usually with a Gomu Gomu no Rocket). Look at this fool now! His damn face is horizontal and he’s just, like, “Cool.” This 180 was so out of character that I remember pausing in my reading out of surprise. Over time, I realized this is just part of a growing pattern of behavior:
Post-timeskip, Zoro got soft.
Okay, yeah, post-timeskip Zoro is more muscular, has a prominent facial scar, doesn’t smile or laugh as much anymore, and spouts these tough-guy one-liners. But when it comes to Luffy, Zoro got sooooo soft.
Pre-timeskip, Zoro scolded Luffy often for being impulsive, for rocketing people around, for blowing their cover, etc. He was mostly on the same wavelength as Luffy, but there were frequent moments of exasperation where he would threaten to cut Luffy (jokingly?) or yell at Luffy for being an idiot.
But post-timeskip? Those two years clearly did a number on our swordsman because compared to before, he is a complete pushover when it comes to his captain.
Luffy is quiet because he senses something is amiss? Zoro immediately notices and asks “What’s wrong” like a worried mother hen.
Luffy needs to get across a frozen lake? Zoro is already stretching.
Luffy is fighting in the coliseum despite being on an undercover mission? Zoro laments not being there fighting alongside him.
Luffy wants to cause a ruckus over Otama/red bean soup? Zoro draws his sword and is ready to tag-team this mess.
Luffy jumps Zoro and nearly suffocates him face-hugger style? Not only does Zoro not reprimand Luffy, he is over the moon smiling like a moron and offering up food.
A lot can be said about WHY Zoro is now so tolerant of Luffy’s antics, way more than before. But setting aside “why,” it’s clear that Zoro is officially Luffy’s number one enabler. He will indulge Luffy’s every whim. He will lay all their enemies at his captain’s feet. He will follow Luffy into disasters and celebrations alike. He will forgive AND defend all of Luffy’s wrongs.
This man is so whipped. This man is so soft for his captain. This man is a fucking marshmallow.
🌘☀️ Some thoughts on Zoro & Luffy and their connection to gods and demons☀️🌒
This post started at first with just a few points about Zoro in the context to Asura/ King of Hell but since then it somehow evolved into connecting bits and pieces between Zoro & Luffy parallels again, I just can't help it, sooo...long post ahead.
Wano + Egghead spoilers
I always love remembering this one of the very first scenes where we (and Luffy) first hear about Zoro, and in the context of Zoro being a Pirate Hunter, even described as a demonic beast or as Koby says "demon in human form." None of this discouraged Luffy upon hearing this, on the contrary - he thought that if he sees for himself if Zoro was a good guy, he would be a great addition to his crew, and then went out of his way to seek him out! And only later we got the explanation that Zoro just couldn't find his way back home. "Roaming the seas" meant surviving for him, bounty hunter meant getting by in life with the skills he knew the best - swords, which is kind of sad when you think about it, but all the more interesting that it was Luffy who found him in Shells town,
where Zoro, a nonbeliever of any gods of higher power, was bound to a cross, and the first thing Luffy pointed out was "he's smiling".
I like to think that the smile might have been one of the first signs important enough for Luffy to choose someone for his crew - not only the kindness that followed when Luffy saw Zoro eating the dirty rice ball, but the smile that's by itself also very connected to Luffy himself:
After that first fight they won together, already reading each other so well, Zoro was the first one to call Luffy his captain (and later at Baratie also the first one to call him the future Pirate King!). He was someone who already fully believed in Luffy's future of reaching his dream without questioning it, perphaps because their drive towards their goals and dreams was very similar. And Luffy was the one who freed Zoro and let him have his swords - his biggest treasures - and gave him back the possibility to go into the world to actually follow his dream!
"One day, he'll show up and take you out under the sun, to the freedom of the sea!" - ch. 1095, Buccaneers about Sun God Nika (flashback with Kuma)
Fast forward to Wano - it's incredible how entangled their stories are with belief in always striving to do better/be stronger/try again next time for Luffy, someone who doesn't care what others think - he just needs to do what he wants and to be free - only for him to awaken his Devil Fruit and his God Nika powers; and for Zoro (a non-believer/apatheist) with how determined he was to successfully wield Enma so he could defeat King the Wildfire even to the lengths of becoming the King of Hell if that was what needed to be done to get Luffy one more step towards being the Pirate King.
Which brings me back to Demon Asura Zoro and where we saw this form throughout the manga:
This whole post started at first as a parallel to my other post about Zoro not really being shown to react to Luffy's Gear 5 (yet, as of chapter 1109), and I kept thinking about Zoro's Asura technique and how he used it so far only three (!!!) times, and there weren't many reactions from the strawhat crew either.
First one was during the Enies Lobby against Kaku, who even calls that vision 'demon-god' (ch. 417). If I remember Zoro was there by himself with Kaku, his crew each fighting other opponents elswhere:
The second time was during their first visit to Sabaody Archipelago, ch. 510, where it was the whole crew against the Pacifistas. The only bigger reactions were Brook and Chopper ("So many Zoros!!" - how cute!)
Luffy went right after Zoro with his last attack against the Pacifistas, so he's either seen Zoro's attack or it just wasn't the time or place to react, which, fair.
and then, third and last time so far Zoro went into his Asura form, it was up against Kaido, ch. 1010, when Luffy was out of it and Kaido was threatening how he would end Luffy in various ways.. which only angered Zoro more ("That's my captain!" - yeah, tell him, Zoro!)
All of these three times we've seen Asura, it was against few of the most dangerous opponents and all three times Zoro had his bandana on, being serious about it. All three of these times he knew his whole crew was fighting for their lives too and were in very real danger. Enies Lobby really changed the tone of the next few arcs with how serious things were about to go; Sabaody was just after Thriller Bark with Zoro being still injured and he knew what Kuma/Pacifistas were capable of - there was real fear and despair. And of course, on Wano against Kaido,. he saw how much damage Luffy took, Zoro could only hope to put more wounds on Kaido to count in their favor.
Zoro knew he had one last attack to try and make some difference in this fight - and this was before his fight with King, so he wasn't fully in sync with Enma yet, but it was good enough to unlock Asura technique - with something more to it.
Apparently along with his haki - not just the armament or observation haki, but the supreme king haki, as Kaido himself is shocked to find out. Zoro wasn't even consciously aware of having/using this haki.
Even the wiki mentions this as Zoro adding the supreme king haki to his Asura attack to strenghten it, or possibly was only able to unlock this technique because of having supreme king haki - meaning he was possibly using it even in both of those pre-time skip situations mentioned above.
The supreme king haki is something people can't learn, but are born with, meaning Zoro probably didn't know until Wano (and still wasn't sure what he did), but possibly learnt to use it instinctively - very much like Luffy on Amazon Lily.)
I already made a post that touched a bit on King of hell Zoro, and other parts around Asura (clearly, i'm never done thinking about that), with a very big possibility/hints that he could come from lineage of people of the D. (asura - enemies of gods - people of D.) - especially if it's connected to supreme king haki as inherited ability (although that isn't confirmed in the manga, as far as I understood).
This brings me to Zoro's family, and specifically Ryuma.
Wano was a great arc that connected things from Thriller Bark -with Zoro returning the legendary sword Shusui back to Ryuma's grave where it belonged.
There was an interesting panel at the end of Wano, where people were celebrating Luffy's victory over Kaido, but were given the name Joyboy as their savior - possibly Momonosuke's doing as Luffy told him not to mention him by name because Luffy didn't want to be a hero.
And in this panel, the peple are comparing this feat of victory to the legendary "God of the Blade" - which is another title for Ryuma.
It's so curious how Zoro is connected to Ryuma, even through span of many centuries and countries across, but still there is that connection, on top of actually fighting Ryuma's zombie on Thriller Bark, and Zoro isn't even aware of it. We only know about it from the SBS corner of Oda mentioning Zoro's family. (SBS corner in vol. 105. Ryuma wasn't mentioned there precisely, but the name Shimotsuki being of Zoro's grandmother and others from Wano, it makes sense they're Ryuma's descendants):
Side note: There's also something really beautiful of how the Shimotsuki line was passed down on Zoro from his grandmother - and his promise he cherishes since childhood being tied to Kuina, someone who wanted to be the greatest swords(wo)man - and therefore Zoro carrying Wado and that dream and promise for her.
Zoro & Luffy
Now to tie it all back to parallels with Zoro and Luffy - I love that there are always these small moment in how similar these two are - in their honest words and actions, in them believing in one another and believing even more in reaching their dreams, their crew and their strengths. In both being so directionally clueless and sometimes outright stupid, yet in certain situations (more so in battles and fights), they are the ones sometimes smartest and most strategic.
Then there's these other similarities between them: how much they don't care about what's told about them or -be it by luck or fate- how things work out in their favor in the end, usually. How both of them don't wish to be heroes, because heroes had to share (food and sake).
How there's that fact that Zoro doesn't know the full context of his powers, especially with his supreme king haki- or that he doesn't want to know the truth or put a name to that ability, because he fights with his swords and doesn't need to put belief of any other powers beside his own strength. (Or maybe he will soon learn how to use it to his (and his crew's) benefit.)
and Luffy, who doesn't know probably anything about Nika- and most likely wouldn't care much about them beside the scope of his new powers. The whole meaning of being something like "sun god" for others didn't register with him yet, and it might never be that important to him personally. Time after time, people around him mention luck or fate, or how people of the D. are the enemies of the Gods - enemies of the celestial dragons, but those don't really matter to Luffy because it doesn't change why he fights and why he needs himself and others to be free and achieve his dream.
How Zoro and Ryuma could be parallels to Luffy and Joyboy - one living in the present, reminiscent of those that lived centuries ago - something about the history always repeating.
When Zoro got to fight Ryuma on Thriller Bark, or even Hyogoro compares him to Shimotsuki Ushimaru (Zoro's great uncle),
and how Zunesha was waiting for Joyboy, how Roger and Oden found messages from Joyboy of his promises to return.
The parallels between sun god Nika and demon god/king Asura are so interesting in their opposites yet similarities. There's still so much we don't know about Nika or Joyboy, but Luffy himself isn't just the perfect picture of responsibility or justice. He's free, and that's the most important for him. He now has the power to do what he really wants to do with his powers, he unlocked that new potential to make it even more fun and even more dangerous against his enemies.
Even if Zoro's saying he doesn't believe in higher powers he embraces the powers that unlocked with Enma and getting him the title of King of Hell, he knows it would be the things that would keep him fighting for another minute, hour, day when it becomes necessary to protect Luffy and their crew.
Zoro may not believe in any gods but he believes in Luffy with all his being.
And in the similar vein, Luffy is the one who always believed in Zoro's strength and capability to protect the rest of their crew when it was necessary, times after time.
It's feels like it's not at all a coincidence that Luffy's whole crew is full of otherness and beings connected to hell/monsters/demons more than anything divine - because lot of the gods in One Piece are mentioned in context of standing above others and above common people - it's a bit flipped of what's good or not, or even more it's never clear because that's life, and those people are just claiming some titles. Eneru being the first example of a "god" the Straw Hats encountered, celestial dragons being called Gods, the Gorosei having each titles of "Godhead" - it's no wonder that Luffy's crew all fights for freedom and reaching whatever each of them needs to achive as their dream,
and includes: a dead man but living skeleton Brook; a demon child Nico Robin; Chopper "I don't mind being a monster for Luffy.'"; Sanji with all his hell fire and "diable" kicks and attacks, along with his non human strength and other abilities; Nami wielding the powers similar to Eneru without the need of both Devil Fruit or being called a goddess, and bringing down lightning on anyone who threatens her crew; Usopp and his powers of nature and plants sprouting new life and strengths from long distance; Jimbei - fishman and former Sun Pirate and also "First son of the Sea"; Franky the more cyborg than a man; and of course, Roronoa "I might as well become the King of Hell" Zoro.
It's not all so black and white, good or bad. Luffy is still everything that makes him Luffy - he's honest and selfish in his selflesness, kind and brave and stubborn, and always knows that Zoro (and his whole crew) has his back so he doesn't have to hold back.
And Zoro is still Zoro despite being able to wield some newer haki powers he's slowly discovering now. He's still getting lost and still is his stubborn self that puts the crew and Luffy above himself, and would follow Luffy into hell if that was needed.
Luffy and Zoro are "just" captain and his first mate, always throughout the story since the beginning. Orphans with such interestingly woven past and relationships around them, who grew up with a big dream they had to go and achieve it no matter what, and found someone just as honest, kind, powerful and trustworthy as they were. But there's that deep and fierce devotion that always borderlines on something beyond just good. They're pirates - because that means being free.
They can be chaotic and powerful, and find something divine in the loyalty of the demonic powers, and something hellish in the god-like entity bringing freedom.
It feels like something Roger said to Rayleigh when they first met - That it was a fated meeting.
👒"If we fight the Navy together now, you'll be a Government-defying villain! Would you prefer that or being killed like this?" ⚔️"What are you, the devil's son?! Well, whatever. I will be your pirate, if I'm just gonna die here instead!"
HE'S ALREADY STRETCHING FOR IT!!!
genuinely one of my favourite bits from one piece
Op x Hungry Days collab is literally crazy.
Like we get to have an alternative timeline wherein Luffy and Zoro are childhood bestfriends!
I understand why Zoro has a picture of Kuina in his room, but Luffy too?!
Compared to the other Strawhats where they met Luffy at school, Zoro has known him since they were kids. Ugh adorable
Then we get to see Zoro being devastated by his defeat to Mihawk.
Zoro was clearly frustrated. Most people would give words of comfort, like "It's okay, you'll get him next time", or "don't be sad, you tried your best." But Luffy (like in canon) already believes in Zoro's strength, and simply says "So cool!"
Luffy (his childhood friend, his best friend, his literal Sun) doesn't even need any other words. His trust and admiration are enough to literally make Zoro's world brighter.
Like what the fck!?!???!!??!?!?!?
Also, this makes me believe that Luffy would wait for Zoro afterschool right after Zoro's Kendo training. As his ever supportive boyfriend best friend, he knows Zoro has been working so hard.
So that they would get to go home together. (So Zoro wont get lost) I'm kicking my feet at how adorable this is.
Zoro may still lose Kuina in this reality but it's making me soft knowing Luffy has been there since they were kids. This makes Zoro growing up less lonely now.
It's like watching a literal Shoujo anime. I'm surprised we don't have that much Zolu Highschool Au fics but it's okay, we have the real deal right here!
that one zoro screencap where he's just staring dreamily at luffy. how is that real. he enamored. he's swooning. luffy is getting in a fight with a giant WHALE (so the whale has something to look forward too & exits a depressive spiral) and zoro is looking at him like THAT. oda I am metaphorically shaking u by the collar why did u do that
zoro is the pettiest man alive I swear LMAO. luffy said he needed zoro and the man proceeded to never be normal about it ever again. relax, bby, no one is going to take luffy from you!
zoro in opla: I guess I’ll join you…………….*goes thru a near death experience where he wakes up to luffy saying he needs him* you are my captain & I am your loyal and devoted first mate I would die for you I will never disappoint you again I will follow you like a weary traveler to a flame I —
zoro in the anime/manga, within a week: ha ha ha you’re the son of the devil! sure I’ll float around in a dinghy with you aimlessly for weeks! yes I’ll carry a cage that took five men to move while bleeding out from a massive wound for you! sure I’d die for you! of course we’ll follow our dreams together!
My favorite genre of Zolu is seeing their arms wrapped around each other
