I am in the unique position to have heard a great number of people describe to me now what point they think they would be willing to consider themselves “dead”, and as a result of listing the most distinct symptoms I think I now have a satisfying range of possibilities for what I’m willing to accept as “alive”
I wanted to create what I feel is a realistic layout for The Polar Tang and this is what I came up with. Some extra research, references, and info below the cut if you're interested.
You can download the annotated pdf or png files and the clean/un-annotated pdf or png files here if you'd like
What Type of Submarine is the Polar Tang?
So the first thing I wanted to determine, is what type of Submarine The Polar Tang is in the first place. I looked into both diesel-electric and nuclear powered subs. While diesel-electric engines are smaller and would allow for more space in the Tang, I didn't feel that it could accommodate for the canonical speed of the Tang. Not to mention diesel-electric engines aren't designed for long journeys while nuclear engines are.
As a nuclear sub, The Polar Tang would have more speed, attack capabilities, stealth, and the ability to go underway for longer stints.
Once I determined that The Polar Tang was a nuclear submarine, I started looking into the build and interior of nuclear subs. I didn't base the interior design for the Tang off any one sub, but some of my major references were the HMS Sceptre, the HMS Vigilant, the Swedish A-11A, and the American NR-1. (I also took quite a bit of information from Rick Campbell's site).
I particularly liked the NR-1 design as a starting point since it was the smallest nuclear sub the US built and it held a crew about half the size of the Heart Pirates. It was also a spy vessel and therefore had a similar level of stealth that the Tang seems to have.
How big is the Polar Tang?
This is a question that has bothered me for a long time. I feel like most people either grossly over or under estimate the size of the Polar Tang so, to try to solve this mystery I went through and collected as many screen caps as I could find that had the Tang next to other vessels (namely the Thousand Sunny) to compare it's size.
And I came to one conclusion: The Polar Tang and The Thousand Sunny are roughly the same size.
Oda has already given a fully layout of the Sunny (if you'd like to see that I have it in pdf form here). So keeping that in mind, when drawing up the floorplans/blueprints, I tried to make sure that the Polar Tang wasn't any larger than the Sunny.
Additional References and Info about the interior design of The Polar Tang
So I wanted to include some miscellaneous information that I may not have included in the main images of the layout as well as some reference photos for what some of the interior might look like to give people a better idea.
Intercoms
The entire sub is outfitted with an intercom system. There are intercoms in every room, hallway, and in several sections of the engineering deck. These intercoms can be used to call specific rooms or decks as well as to make ship wide announcement and alerts. Every intercom can both send and receive messages and alert sounds.
Crew Quarters and Bathrooms/Showers
The crew Quarters and bathrooms/showers are co-ed (I say co-ed, but I like to think that Ikkaku is the only female Heart Pirate because I find it amusing and she's the only female crew member we canonically know of). For a better idea of what the crew's bunks look like, I was thinking something like these:
I mentioned above that the bathrooms are also co-ed and shared (yes this includes Law, he doesn't have a private bathroom or shower, just a sink vanity. A shower would take up too much space imo). I do think that (assuming Ikkaku is the only woman on the crew) Ikkaku would have a designated shower stall that none of the guys use, to insure her privacy and a clean shower. (look it's me cramming in my own hcs lol)
Helm Controls
I also wanted to include a reference photo for the Helm control since we only get to see the control on the Tang from one perspective with Hakugan at the Helm.
Engineering Deck
While the engineering deck doesn't have rooms, it is still a walk-able space, but is very tight with some spaces only being accessible if you were to crawl into them to work on those sections of the engine.
Similar to the Galley, the engineering deck would have a fail safe system in case of a fire. The deck is split into sections separated by fire doors. If a fire is detected, an alert will sound (accompanied by flashing lights) and crewmen will have a finite amount of time to vacate the area before the fire door seal it off and suck all the oxygen out to extinguish the fire and prevent an explosion
For more real life photos of Nuclear Submarine interior spaces I have a link to a google docs folder here (because tumblr limits how many photos you can have on one post).
For more reference screencaps of The Polar Tang, I've put them all in another google docs folder here.
I would love to know what everyone thinks of my layout design! I put a lot of thought into it so I hope you all like it 😊
Despite my warm feelings for the characters of Ace and Whitebeard, Marco is the one who hurts the most after this damn war. He lost his captain and his father, his home, his crew, his comrades, who dispersed around the world and finally lost another close friend.
Sometimes I really believe that Oda hates the pirates of Whitebeard…
Mech Man was thought to have died years before Shroud ever escaped prison. Just an unfortunate accident after a run in with a supervillain who had back-up Robert hadn't known about that could control metal. The videos of how the mecha suit got absolutely obliterated was everywhere for a whole week. The people mourned him. But after that week had passed, he came back. Both the mech and the man were as solid and larger than life as ever. He went on as if he had never been injured, the mech running as smoothly as always. People came to the conclusion that while the mech had been destroyed, the pilot had been fine, and must’ve been able to fix or recreate his suit. Whatever was the case, it didn’t really matter, LA once again had their Mecha Man, so people were content to ignore the glaring question of how the supposed champion of normies managed to survive.
Several years later, Mecha Man blows up again, and people are once again worried that they’ve watched their city’s hero die. But most people hold out hope. If he’s done it once, he could do it again, right? 4 months pass without any word and people begin to lose hope. But the familiar mask and tired eyes looking into the cameras with the same deep cadence the third Mecha Man always had brushed their worries away. He came back again, just like he did before.
Robert gets the same offer by Blonde Blazer and accepts, but tells her the suit doesn’t need to be fixed, he could do it himself. He doesn’t let her know that the mecha hasn't needed upkeep of any sort for far too long. Still, he figured being a dispatcher would be a good way to still help where he could while his core was still recovering. Meeting Chase again is such a bittersweet reunion, and he keeps his mouth shut about the new developments that had occurred while they hadn’t see each other. Chase shouldn't have to be burdened like that, not like any of it was his fault, but Robert knew Chase would blame himself anyway if he knew.
The Z-team he was saddled with was a work in progress, but at least progress was being made. He knew they still had their reservations about him, even if they didn’t completely hate him anymore after he managed to keep the team together. At least their reservations were purely because they didn't believe he was a normie like he insisted he was, which considering the circumstances, was fair enough. It was hard not to notice Malevola’s eyes tracking him in the break room with a focused concentration, or the thin wisps of shadows that trailed after him when he walked home. How Sonar’s ears and face would immediately twitch the moment he walked into the room before the man forced his features into nonchalance. The way Punch Up would tilt his head in confusion at the sound of his footsteps.
Flambae constantly complained how cold the nearby area around him could get, while Prism tended to avoid looking directly at him whenever possible. Golem would occasionally have this pensive look on his face whenever he saw Robert, and Invisigal sometimes looked at him like he was a dead man walking. Robert privately wondered if she somehow knew something, but that wasn't possible, since even Robert didn't really remember what happened. He supposed it didn't really matter, he wasn't exactly there to get along with them, just to help them achieve the heights he knew they could. Robert didn't know why that thought made him feel weird.
-
When everything is said and done and Shroud is back in prison, Chase badgers him about his grandfather’s old place that he hadn’t sold, in part because he didn’t need to, in part because of the urge that ordered him not to whenever he thought he should. “If you’re not going to live in it, you should get it cleaned up and sell it so you can finally get yourself a fucking bed.”
Robert doesn’t have the heart to let Chase know he doesn’t have a bed because he does not need one. Technically he doesn’t need to eat either, but Twinkies were one of the few pleasures in life Robert could still enjoy, even if he wasn't entirely sure where the hell they went after he consumed them.
The z team end up tagging along, because of course they do. They're eager to dig into his childhood belongings and his father’s inherited possessions that he had moved into the house for storage when he had sold his childhood home. Eventually, they break off into small groups to go wander, and Robert lets them, though something niggles at the back of his mind that there was somewhere in the house they absolutely shouldn’t go. The warning pokes grow into an incessant ringing at the back of his brain when he hears shocked exclamations come from the direction of the garage.
As Robert steps closer and closer to the garage entrance, he notices he begins glowing, his skin turning translucent to see the veins originating from the Astral Pulse that now made up his core underneath, keeping him alive. That…hasn’t happened in a while…what…?
His mind grows fuzzy, the ringing turning into a shrieking echo of warning. What was his brain trying to tell him? He grips his head in one hand while using the other to open the door, and…huh.
The entire z team and Chase have all already gathered up in the room, surrounding something laying on the ground. He can see swipes of old blood on the nearby work bench, a pool of it surrounding…it for lack of better terms since Robert still didn't know what it was. In the corner there seemed to be a destroyed replica of his suit, covered in dust, cobwebs, and brown flakes that Robert couldn’t tell was rust or blood. Maybe it was both. Weird, Robert thought his old suit had been completely destroyed in that first explosion.
As he shuts the door behind him, everyone’s eyes turn up from where they stared at the ground to look at him. Robert didn’t even know Chase could look so gray, it was kinda disturbing to witness. “What is it guys?” he grumbled, still holding his head in one hand, almost worried the noise in his brain would prevent him from hearing someone talk.
It looked like his concern had been unfounded, as his fucked up little family slowly and silently back away from whatever they had been crowding just moment before. And suddenly, the alarms stop, but the fog grows denser, wrapping itself even tighter around Robert’s mind. An “Oh.” trips out of him before Robert can fully comprehend what exactly he’s looking at.
The glow that surrounds him flickers unevenly as he steps closer, the soft tapping of his footsteps now the only sound echoing in the garage. They watch him, their breaths all held with looks in their eyes as if they knew something he didn’t, but didn’t want to be the one to break the news. He's not entirely sure what that news would be.
Robert lets out another soft “Oh.” when he reaches what could only be the third mecha man’s physical body, Robert Robertson the third's body, his body. Now nothing more than bones adorned with a tattered and stained uniform. He crouches down, reaching for…what? Robert’s not entirely sure himself, but is barely an inch away from touching what was left of the Mecha Man logo on his chest when several different hands reached out to pull him back.
The tug makes him land on his ass, looking up at Chase, Visi, and Mal. He’s sure if he bothered to look around he’d see the others, feeling the warm weight of a three fingered hand paired with another smaller hand with the scent of a particular lotion by a brand sponsoring Prism on one side, with Coup and Punch-up on his other side that he could spot in his peripheral vision. Sonar and Golem hang back, but they look just as abnormally serious as everyone else did.
Slim calloused fingers gripped his wrist tighter, and Robert couldn’t help but stare down at where shadows gathered to tether their connection further. His skin was almost completely transparent now, flickering in and out while glowing that unnatural Astral Pulse blue. “Huh.” he mumbles, mostly to himself, though he’s sure everyone heard him, “I forgot…?”
“Robert.” Chase’s voice pulls him back out of his head “I think we should leave.”
It’s hard to process anything as wave of terrifying flash after terrifying flash of memories that he wished he still couldn't remember flood his brain, and Robert continues to stare at what used to be him. “Robert.” Chase reiterates, firmer and more insistent than before, “We need to leave.”
The Z-team begin piping up with similar sentiments with their own unique flair, “Yeah Boberto, let’s blow this joint.” “Hey Robbo, can I show you this new coin I started investing in? Left my phone in the car so we’ll need to head out so I can give you a proper elevator pitch.” “Bitch, this place sucks more than your apartment.”
Mutely, Robert slowly nods in agreement, and he can no longer tell whose hands are helping him off the ground and patting off flakes of dried blood and dust off his clothes. Warm hands filled with life begin gently leading him out of the garage as the people he had come to see as family surround him, each of them holding a piece of him as if he would float away if they let go. Robert tries to take one more look at the body on the ground, but a pair of wrinkled but ever so familiar hands gently cup his face to turn him away from the grim sight. “Eyes on me, buttercup.”
If Robert’s vision wasn’t becoming so blurry, he could’ve sworn Chase’s eyes were shinier than normal. “Keep up.” The man who was basically his big brother in all but blood instructed, and with the amount of earnestness in those words, what could Robert do but to listen?
The further he’s moved away from the remains, the more solid and less blue he becomes, and the more drained he feels. He’s nearly boneless as he's nudged into the backseat of Flambae’s repaired firebird. Soon enough, his head is tucked into Chase’s shoulder, the man’s arm wrapped around his waist to press him close. On his other side, Prism hummed gently while idly rubbing his back. Flambae himself drove with an almost eerie calm, and both him and Mal in shot gun constantly looked back at him with poorly concealed expressions. Of what exactly, though, Robert wasn't too sure of yet.
Robert knew he was going to have to talk about this later. Even though he still barely remembered anything himself, he would try his best to explain. They deserved to know, and he thinks he's finally ready to let them know. But for now, the Astral pulse thumps gently within him, and he was surrounded by some of the people he cared about and trusted the most, the others following shortly behind. With a soft sigh, he closes his eyes, and lets himself fall asleep for the drive home.
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