(This blog was previously known as ask-the-crossguild-trio)
Hey there, I'm Moni and I'm here to inform you about the new WG rehabilitation program for the ex Warlords.
It came to the attention of the Admirals that two of the most dangerous Warlords (plus a Buggy) formed an organization of marine hunters, so the WG forced the Admirals to reach out and make a deal with them (nobody wanted to actually have to deal with THE marine hunter ever again).
In the meantime, they recognized the danger (and the nuisance) the other Warlords would represent for them as well now that they are left unsupervised, so the Marines decided to extend the deal to them, too.
The main condition is this: former immunity/privilege (no taxes for you, guys) in exchange for the obligation of answering whatever question people might have. Admiral Sengoku was denied retirement for this, just so you know.
So the original Warlords are not happy to be here for you and satisfy your curiosity!
(Buggy wasn't part of the deal at first but Mihawk decided that if he must suffer then Buggy should too, plus annoying Crocodile by means of the clown is funny, so why not)
Thanks for the attention and don't be shy! The Shichibukai are here for you!
This is the new link to the rules:
This list could change in the future, but the main rules are:
You can ask whatever you want to Crocodile, Mihawk, Boa Hancock, Doflamingo,
P.S. No clown was actually mistreated in the creation of this program.
You cannot convince me this hasn't happened at least twice
(This was suppose to be a short practice animation and then procreate Dreams made my life HELL ON EARTH)
I haven’t done long analysis/meta/essay-style posts in a while, but after seeing a comment that amounted to “every time Lucci’s shown an interest in something that doesn’t have to do with killing, Kaku’s involved” it made me think about whether or not that's true and, more specifically, whether or not there’s been sufficient build-up to justify what happens in Chapter 1111.
So let’s explore, shall we?
First of all, basic disclaimer that I’ve been heavily into One Piece since 2008 and Water 7 has been my favorite arc since the first time I read it that summer. Kaku, in turn, has always been one of my top characters in the entire series for various reasons…but this isn’t about him (at least, not entirely), so all of that is just to say that I’ve thought about these characters a lot over the years.
And I think what always struck me about them is that not only are they so fundamentally different, but that realistically Lucci should not tolerate Kaku at all. He’s pretty much everything Lucci’s not, and they’re more-or-less a perfect example of the ‘someone will die…of fun!’ meme in a lot of ways (and honestly it’s what I think of every time I see this card, but I digress):
At the same time, what happened in the latest chapter didn’t surprise me, because there’s been hints all along, and I’ve personally been waiting years for it to pay off…even though part of me thought it never would, or at least not in the way it did!
Still, how did we get here?
But First, A Bit About 相棒
So. Why is the fact that Lucci calls Kaku his “相棒” (aibou) so significant? Mostly because of the…individualistic meaning of the word. It literally translates to ‘partner’, but not in a romantic/life-partner way (not to say that it has never been used like that, but it’s not the inherent meaning of the word).
Unlike words such as 友人 (yuujin), 友達 (tomodachi), and of course, with Luffy, 仲間 (nakama), aibou generally only refers to one person. You can have many friends, teammates, crew members…but only one aibou. So by calling Kaku that, Lucci’s already placing him on a different level to anyone else in CP9 or CP0 and acknowledging openly that Kaku’s important enough to him to have earned that distinction.
Which is why a lot of us were very excited about it, since this is not a common occurrence where Lucci’s concerned.
That aside, let’s get to the actual canon content.
Water 7
Obviously at the beginning we find out they both work at the shipyard, but that in and of itself isn’t entirely significant…until you consider that, since Kalifa is pretty much with Iceburg all the time and Blueno’s running the bar, the two of them are working in much closer proximity to each other than to the other CP9 members in the city.
The first real indication we get regarding their comfort level with each other comes in chapter 327 when Kaku gets back from examining the Merry and goes to sit down to explain what he’s discovered. Paulie’s the closest to him, but he actually ends up stepping past both him and Lucci in order to sit directly beside Lucci on the same level.
It’s quite a while before we see the two of them alone again, and it doesn’t happen until chapter 339 when they’re speaking with Robin. Of course at the time we’re not supposed to know it’s them, but there’s really nobody else it can be since this is happening at the exact same time that Blueno’s talking with Franky and Kokoro at the bar. So, as will become fairly common, the two of them are again acting as a unit of their own within the larger group.
And then, of course, we get the infiltration of the mansion prior to The Big Reveal (which I’ve spoken about before because for me it’s still the single greatest reveal in the entire manga because of how carefully crafted it is, right down to Kaku’s limited dialogue in this section being completely devoid of his usual speech quirks in the original Japanese text). Once again, Blueno and Kalifa are doing their own things while these two are working together.
This panel has always been interesting to me because immediately prior to this Lucci says he can’t let Paulie live, and then he decides to just restrain him instead. In Luffy’s case it makes sense because they gave their word to Robin not to harm the Strawhats, but he has absolutely no reason to spare Paulie, and the little lines of shock/surprise beside Kaku imply that he hadn’t expected Lucci to do that, either. The ‘why’ is still unclear, but it’s interesting nonetheless, and it’s also…noteworthy that it’s the only thing Lucci asks Kaku to do. All of the actual damage Paulie takes comes from Lucci and he never asks for or expects Kaku to harm him.
I never connected these two panels before but it’s obviously very deliberate to have Lucci telling Iceburg that feeling emotions is a sign of humanity followed immediately by Kaku…demonstrating exactly that and thanking Iceburg. It’s important to establish that part of Kaku’s character, but keep in mind Lucci’s lack of a reaction here because it’ll come back later.
Again, very tiny moment, but there’s a lot of examples of Lucci deferring to Kaku or letting him take the lead without any hesitation, and I like this because Kaku’s noticed something that Lucci hasn’t and Lucci just goes with it immediately.
I’d forgotten about this but Kaku’s also the one that decides to take Usopp with them, first by recognizing him as one of the Strawhats and then going through with it even after finding out he doesn’t consider himself a part of them anymore. And Lucci just…stands back and lets him give out orders to the others while doing so.
Okay so this is what I was referencing earlier. Kaku shows actual emotions with Iceburg and Lucci’s silent, but the moment Kalifa gets even slightly happy about completing the mission he’s berating her instantly. Kaku’s expression here is interesting too because he looks absolutely haunted and it’s very telling.
And also another visual representation of Lucci and Kaku being equal to/on the same level as each other.
I didn’t include the panel but Kaku was ‘sleeping’ when Corgi was giving them all of the information about Nero while Lucci was (seemingly) wide awake, and yet Lucci has no idea who he is and relies on Kaku to have all the information. Which he does.
Kaku being the one to take charge again and direct the others even though Lucci’s standing right there. They do this more than I’d realized at first, especially since Lucci always seems to be looked at as the unofficial ‘leader’ of CP9.
Enies Lobby
We’ve made it to Enies Lobby, which is the first glimpse we get of these two interacting with the full CP9 group outside of any sort of ‘mission’ environment.
Mostly it entails Lucci being more combative (especially with Jabra) and Kaku being more annoyed, but again I can’t really imagine anyone else taking this tone with Lucci and getting away with it while Kaku does it fairly often and Lucci never retorts or gets angry with him.
And while Kaku’s not immune to taking Jabra’s bait in the right circumstances, his typical tendency is to de-escalate situations if he can and here he’s refusing to engage despite being deliberately called out…and Lucci, without being asked, immediately takes his side and defends his choice.
This is practically the next panel and while both Lucci and Jabra are kind of equally at fault for this little display, Kaku only berates Jabra for it while Kalifa’s directing her comments at both of them.
Now that I’m actually looking for these sorts of things it’s becoming more obvious, but again we have Lucci and Kaku in an equal position to each other at the front of CP9.
This isn’t just to Kaku since Kalifa’s there as well, but Lucci’s still encouraging them to eat the fruits and I have to believe it’s coming from a place of good faith because he’d know whether or not being able to swim is that big an issue in their profession. I also want to note that Kaku echoes Lucci’s ‘it’ll be fun’ line when he actually does eat his fruit, so obviously that resonated with him.
I’ve put these two together because they both highlight the same thing, that being in both of these sequences we get almost all of CP9 giving out their individual thoughts/comments on what’s happening but Kaku’s statement both times is a direct reply to what Lucci says, so again the two of them are paired off in a way that doesn’t include anyone else there.
The only other thing of note in this section is that while Robin’s talking about what happened during the Buster Call on Ohara, Kaku and Lucci are the only CP9 members to kind of…break formation and actually look at her while she’s speaking, which is interesting.
And for the rest of Enies Lobby they aren’t together so there’s not too much more to say here other than Kaku of course being the one to have the actual key to Robin’s cuffs, but it’s never made explicit who came up with that plan or handed out the keys so…if I ever actually do the thing and write a full analysis of Kaku’s character we can talk about it then Lark you’ve been saying you’ll do this for years IF I EVER--
Interlude - CP9’s Independent Report
Besides the fact that this is still one of my favorite cover stories, there’s a couple of noteworthy things here, the first of which is that Kaku again is taking the lead. Even though he’s the only other CP9 member other than Lucci to be injured badly enough that he can’t walk on his own, he’s still the one directing them where to go.
Other than that, I love seeing all of them just…interacting like friends and being very relaxed and casual, and pretty much every panel where Kaku and Lucci are together they’re directly beside each other so I’ve included a bunch of those here.
Dressrosa & Egghead
The next time we see Lucci and Kaku is at the end of Dressrosa, where they’ve been promoted to CP0 Oda can we please get some explanation of how this happened and let me tell you, I remember this vividly because the spoilers at the time just said that Lucci was talking to ‘someone’ and when the raws came out you can bet I went right to the dialogue to see if it was Kaku because his way of speaking is so telling.
But even in this little scene, we can see they’re having an equal conversation and there’s a major difference between how Lucci’s speaking with Kaku and how he addresses Spandam mere seconds later.
After this we have the Reverie/Levely/what-even-is-this-thing-called arc where they get all of a single panel together and while it’s the first time we actually ‘see’ Kaku after the time-skip, nothing really interesting regarding their relationship happens, so let’s move on to…
The end of the colored manga! And Egghead.
We start with a very familiar situation: Lucci asking Kaku what’s going on, and while Kaku this entire arc seems more outwardly annoyed with Lucci than he ever was in the past (which is never really explained but then again, Lucci spends a lot of the arc doing things he’s specifically been told not to do, so maybe it’s understandable…), he still has all the information and relays it.
Though Kaku’s also much more comfortable letting his real personality show despite them being on a mission while before he was always completely serious after the Water 7 reveal, especially around Lucci. It came through with Zoro and Jabra but during the cover story he’s smiling and laughing a lot with Lucci right there so it makes sense he’d be more willing to let his guard down even ‘on the job’ by now.
So here’s the first real instance of Lucci showing concern for Kaku, something which escalates pretty quickly throughout the arc. It’s subtle, and though he’s framing it as a suggestion to Stussy, if he didn’t care at all he wouldn’t have said anything.
At this point it’s fairly obvious that Lucci and Kaku don’t really have any authority difference between them and Kaku spends a lot of time in this chapter especially telling Lucci to Not Do The Thing. Anyone that’s ever lived with a cat knows how well this works.
I’ve always found this bit of dialogue particularly interesting because Kaku’s very openly…praising Sentomaru for choosing his loyalty to Vegapunk over assisting the government, and there’s no way Lucci doesn’t hear him say this but he doesn’t say anything in return. There’s no real evidence that Lucci knows about Kaku willingly giving up the key to Zoro or how conflicted he was about Paulie and everyone else, but this seems to imply that at the very least, even if he doesn’t share those sentiments, he wouldn’t think less of Kaku because of it.
Putting these two together since they’re in the same scene but at this point it’s not even subtle concern anymore, Lucci’s genuinely worried for Kaku and you can tell this caught him off-guard.
Kaku’s the first one to suggest working together but Lucci immediately backs him up and goes with the idea. It’s logical in the sense that it’ll give them the biggest chance to survive, but willingly working with pirates isn’t exactly the sort of thing that Lucci, especially in the past, would have so easily done regardless of the situation.
So at this point it’s becoming clear that this whole 4-v-2 section is supposed to be the most…light-hearted thing going on right now and a lot of it is played to be comedic, including Lucci’s inability to lie, but yet again there’s almost nobody else that could get away with scolding him the way Kaku’s doing here.
…And then we skip ahead a day and things happen that I really hope get explained at some point because they seem important, but while Lucci’s never going to have impeccable bedside manner, he’s very concerned with getting Kaku to rest and while Kaku’s trying to justify what happened Lucci really doesn’t seem to care about that. It’s a big departure from him being willing to write off anyone he deems ‘too weak’ and it’s a nice character moment.
I’d mentioned on my liveblog that some of the things Lucci was doing after this point were confusing, but if you look at them through the lens of him wanting to protect Kaku, it makes a lot more sense. Yes, he’s deliberately keeping him out of the loop, but Lucci I think has decided that he’s going to throw caution to the wind and act alone since if Kaku can’t prove he knew about the plan, he’s probably safer being left with the Strawhats, and if the Marines show up he should be safe anyway or so Lucci thinks…
When this chapter came out, I’d said something about Lucci being a hypocrite considering what the rest of CP9 did for him when they could have easily just left him at Enies Lobby, but given what happens almost directly after and likely what he’s trying to do with this entire fight, these words feel even less genuine…
And that brings us to this. The moment that I’ve been thinking about for almost an entire week now. The moment that, looking back at…oh, wow…almost 3000 words of analysis maybe shouldn’t be as surprising as it was for most of us, but it does feel like the payoff for a long, long buildup that’s taken nearly twenty years to reach. Because really, there’s no other way to describe them other than ‘partners’, and probably hasn’t been for a long time…and I’m so glad that Lucci acknowledged it.
To summarize, I think what surprised me most about re-visiting all of this is how much the manga has framed them as equals since the beginning even though it was never explicitly stated between the characters themselves. Lucci’s always been far more lenient with Kaku than with anyone else, and Kaku in turn has never had any fear of Lucci even if he wasn’t really expressing his true self with him for a long time.
The cover story being the turning point makes perfect sense, and the progression throughout Egghead of Lucci being more outwardly willing to show his concern and Kaku not hiding his emotions at all seems like a natural progression of their relationship and their level of comfort around each other.
And the fact that Oda is never really…hitting us over the head with any of it until that final moment when Lucci says everything so plainly because Kaku’s life is the most important thing to him even when faced with a literal monster… It’s so effective.
I don’t know where we go from here. To be honest, I’m kind of scared of where we go from here. But regardless of the outcome, I hope this little essay has been at the very least interesting and perhaps allowed you to look at these two in a different light.
Catarina Devon: Van Augur! Go save our idiot boss instead of taking another of your shitty selfies!
Van Augur: Not everything is about him, I'm sure that Teach will survive one way or another. Anyway, don't you think this light makes me look really cool?
“So that’s it, huh?” Kuzan chuckled darkly, breaking off into a bloody cough.
“Yes,” replied Sakazuki, crossing his arms. “I applaud your effort, Kuzan.”
“Right then, take it,” Kuzan said, spreading his arms wide, opening up his chest. This was it. An honourable death. He only wished he could’ve done more…
“No,” Sakazuki said, shaking his head.
“Really?” Kuzan asked, raising an eyebrow, “Now you choose sympathy?”
“Do not mock me, Admiral Aokiji,” Sakazuki snarled, lava dripping from his fingertips.
“Codenames, huh, Akainu,” Kuzan sneered. “I thought this was a fight to the death.”
“It was,” Sakazuki said, each word clipped and professional, “until I decided you are much too valuable a man to just kill off.”
“Valuable, huh?” Kuzan muttered, staring at the gap where is leg used to be. He waved over the scorched skin on his shoulder, covering it with a thin layer of ice. Relief hit him like a wave. He let out a long breath, and collapsed to the ground in a sitting position.
“What do you want from me?” he asked, closing his eyes.
“I want you to continue working as an admiral.”
“Don’t wanna,” Kuzan yawned, stretching out and lying down.
“Why not?” Sakazuki grit his teeth.
“I’d have to work under you, right?” Kuzan sniffed.
“Yes,” Sakazuki replied, exasperated, “you’re aware of the significance of this duel, are you not?”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it, Mr. Fleet Admiral,” Kuzan murmurred.
“So then? Why do you object to working under me?”
“Because I despise your version of justice,” Kuzan cracked open an eye. Really, Sakazuki should just kill him now. They had been training and working together for over 20 years, and the man was still oblivious to his partners’s thought process. Kuzan would not continue working for the Marines. That decision would not change.
“It’s not as if anything will be changing,” Sakazuki huffed.
“No,” Kuzan laughed, “everything will be changing, Sakazuki. You being at the top means a giant imbalance of power. What little moral justice exsisted in the Navy will be crushed under your rule. The world will shake under injustice.”
“The real injustice is the fact that the Navy continues to allow pirates to run rampant in the Grand Line!” Sakazuki argued. Kuzan detected a large shift in the other man’s emotional state. Kami knows what happened to this moron when he was younger, for him to grow up into this…this thing.
“And the world?” Kuzan taunted him, “Are you going to keep lying to the world too, Sakazuki? About how everything is working out in the Navy’s favour and how everything is under control, and nothing is the matter?”
“Nothing is the matter,” Sakazuki hissed.
“You’ve fooled yourself too, huh?” Kuzan sighed. “There’s no helping you now.”
Kuzan urged his ice to form into a prosthetic, which bonded with his leg. He tested his knees, and found that they were still functioning. With a grunt, he pulled himself to a standing position, awkwardly wobbling on his new, cold limb. He inspected the ice, and smiled.
“This will do,” he hummed pleasantly.
“Let’s go back to HQ,” Sakazuki said stiffly, turning towards the direction of the boat they had arrived in.
“Sakazuki,” Kuzan said. The other admiral looked back at him. “I’m resigning from my position.”
“Fine,” Sakazuki grunted, “Have it your way.”
“What a cold response,” Kuzan laughed.
“From you?” Sakazuki smirked.
“Got me there,” Kuzan scratched the back of his head.
One thing I'll never be able to shut up about is Sengoku, the stoic Buddha, suddenly meeting his grandson.
Which he didn't even knew about at first.
And it's, of fucking course, a pirate captain.
One of the worst generations on top of that.
Buying himself his seat as warlord with 100 hearts like a lunatic.
What the heck did his sweet boy Rocinante see in such a menace?!!
Sure, the former fleet admiral isn't dumb.
He also trusts Rosi's judgment. And if he chose this snotty brat worthy to pay his life for, it will have his reasons.
(also, he may or may not have done his research and found that Trafalgar Law isn't such a bad lad. As if he would say that out loud, ever, though)
These two.
Bullheaded in their own way, both reluctant to accept the bond they now share through an unassuming marine that stumbled into both their lives...
The way Rocinante altered both of their lives in such an uncanny way.
As if these two can ever bring themselves to cut this tie.
Law dedicated his whole life and that of his crew to this man.
Sengoku questioned his whole path of justice, even going so far as to give Law a grandfatherly lecture on unconditional love.
I bet they write each other coded post cards to special holidays/ occasions now. Passive aggressive of course.
Sengoku finding an ominous package containing his favorite rice crackers somewhere...
Law stumbling on a picture of a certain blond kid attached to his new bounty...
"equivalent exchange"
Nah. These bickering adults are growing fond of each other over time.
That's just the magic of Corazón.
"Are you stupid? Why would you go to that island! Turn yourself in, already! You got no business in the yonko territories, you rookie!"
"Shut up, old man. Don't tell me what to do. And no, I won't come over for Christmas. I got rookie stuff to do. Like tasting my freedom. Talk to you later, geezer. Don't choke on your crackers"
Don't pester him to become your teacher/trainer because he'll tell you to fuck off: he's got his freedom to defend. But if you are persistent enough, he'll adopt you (soon or late);
His idea of "training" can turn people whose arms have the circumference of a single twig to the level of a armament-Haki-expert professional boxer. If you survive, that is.
Don't presume he knows what the beginner level is. His idea of "beginner level" is a "battleship bag". I'm not joking.
No Haki or DF powers. "This is training".
If you complete his training, congratulations, you're ready to become a WG's enemy. You'll still be a lamppost-sized man but now you'll have the ability of packing a goddamn punch.
If you still don't believe it, these are the results of his training:
Koby
Kuzan
I'm sure there's something like that with Helmeppo, too, but I don't know where. But there must be.
It means that more than eight hundred people didn't have any doubt 😂
Sir Crocodile destroyed Doflamingo in this poll ... Poor man, he is likely still sitting in a corner plotting revenge against each and every person who hasn't understood his "outstanding awesomeness" yet.
Crocodile, instead, printed the result of this poll on an oversized piece of paper and pinned it to the Navy HQ's meeting room's wall, waiting with the most infuriating and smug smirk a man can have on his face for Doflamingo to enter the room and see it. He even got a special permission to do this from the Fleet Admiral himself.
And Doflamingo’s reaction to it when he finally joined the rest of the Warlords in the meeting room is history ...
Someone should write a fanfiction where all the first mate/vice captains (and Nami) go on a vacation together. They founded a CLUB (see the previous post on this), they need a raise, they need a vacation and they need it now. So, their captains are left to fend for themselves for, let's say, a month.
For people like Shanks or Luffy, a week is probably their breaking point (or the time range before boredom and lack of adult supervision pushs them to declare war on the world government, thus forcing their first mates to come back ASAP from vacation).
Absolute chaos becomes unstoppable for the crews who never noticed how much life changes when a more adult adult than you fixes your messes in exchange for the stability of their own blood pressure. When they finally understand they NEED some adult supervision in order not to explode and/or commit mutiny, they despair at the notion that they are supposed to be their own adult for a whole month.
The first mates, who are relaxing on a tropical beach without a care in the world for once in their lives, watch their crews' shenanigans unfold on a maxi TV and start betting on whose captain will break and/or give up first. Shanks. They've never had so much fun and they all know they deserved it.
Finally, they return to their babysitting duties, relaxed and regenerated, and all the captains have never been happier to see their first mates again in all their lives (if Luffy's and Shanks's bear-like hugs are almost unbearable then it's just a matter between first mates, captains and the latter’s deep-seated abandonment issues).
Oh, Deuce, yes! He really needs it too, poor man 😂 @commandercampfirekat would you really write something for this prompt? Thank you!! I look forward to read it if inspiration strikes you 😁
