thinking about zoro and sanji in thriller bark and how insane it is that their shadows knew each other. like. a person's shadow never really retains past memories or any memories regarding other people in their lives. you lose the main characteristics that make you you. sanji doesn't remember his name. he kicks robin- he would've never done that even under the threat of death. zoro knows nothing but his swords and the need to destruct. not his name, not his captain. they think they serve a person who they have never met before that day. they are them but at the same time, they are not. sanji's shadow's kick could break a man's skull but it doesn't know kindness like sanji, the real and human one, does. zoro's shadow can win all the battles it faces but it doesn't feel the same unwavering loyalty towards luffy, his captain, his king. they lose parts of themselves that make them who they are.
but they know each other.
sanji can be a fucking doguin now but he knows the bastard next to him. he knows he wants to kick his face in. zoro might now have scars all over his back and have a goddamn chandelier around his waist but that motherfucker next to him is just begging to be slashed. they've known each other in every lifetime. they will find each other in every universe. they will die in each other's hands. how much must one's existence be etched in your soul for your shadow to know them? to know them when you don't know yourself?
it's like when achilles says, "I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world." or when hozier says, "No grave can hold my body down, I'll crawl home to her."
insane.
