TUMBLR SAYS TODAY IS MY ANNIVERSARY
This means we must be close to the 1-year anniversary of Chapter 1055 as well because that is why I made an account in the first place lol
I can't remember if I made it after the leaks, raws, unofficial, or official release. All I can remember is I could not stop smiling because of my ship, so let me talk about why this chapter had me squealing. This is my interpretation, not the bible. Do not take it as the gospel truth.
Here, we find out that Law has somehow joined Robin and Sukiyaki. First of all, their little banter about sniffing hyenas was hilariously cute. The way Law is walking down the stairs too... he's so silly! Second of all, what Law says next sent my brain into all sorts of scenarios. The last time we saw Law, he was with his crew by the port with the three ships. He went from there to the party, saw that Robin wasn't there with the others, and went after her. The straw hats weren't exactly all together at the party. We got panels of some of them up on stage, some of them down, etc. So...
How much scanning did Law have to do before he deduced that she wasn't at the party at all? How long did it take for him to decide to go after her? Once he started searching, how long did it take him to find her? Was he running around or warping around all of Wano? I NEED TO KNOW!!!! As much as Toei loves to stretch things out, I wouldn't mind them showing Law looking under every rock for Robin. When I take my shipping goggles off, I'm like, "Oh, obvi he just wants to be there because Will of D." When I put them on, the possibilities are endless. Plus, come on, this just feels like too much effort.
We see he has swiftly caught up and is following closely behind Robin.
This is what sent me into a fit of squeals and kicks while hugging my pillow. I legit had to just stop and stare at that panel of them together for a long time before I could move on. The panel with Robin crawling up by herself is also super cute. Robin is just cute. It's also symbolic because she is usually by herself when she goes on her poneglyph quests. That panel just makes me go, "Look at Robin. She is such an earnest researcher. My babygirl," because ROBIN WILL DO THE WORK. That makes it even better for me when Law pops up next to her because she is no longer by herself. She is not the only one interested and actually invested in this anymore. Interest is one thing. Investment is another. You can be interested in something and never invest any time or effort into it. Law is both interested and invested. He cares.
Actually, he is not right next to her. He is slightly behind. I'm going by the contour on the left panels, and more specifically, by the different levels of their ears in that bottom left panel. Robin seems to be slightly in front of him. I'll get to why I think this is important later.
My headcanon is that he is hiding an extremely flustered face underneath his hat in that top left panel because Law often uses his hat to hide any signs of vulnerability. Obviously, I think he's flustered by the proximity because this is probably the closest he's ever been to Robin, but I think he would also be flustered by the fact that she was CRAWLING UP THE TUNNEL AND GIVING HIM A FULL VIEW OF HER BACK POCKETS!!! I headcanon Law as a gentleman because of his upbringing, so in his mind he was probably like... "Aaaaaaaaah!!! SHE. IS. CRAWLING!! Don't go behind her, you idiot! Turn around and do not look. Just wait until she stops and then warp yourself up there. Whatever you do, DO NOT BE A SIMP!"
He might have also been showing off as a way of flirting. I can see this from Law as well. Robin saying "no fair" with a slight pout is also cute, and it could be seen as flirting too, but I personally don't get that feeling from her. This felt more like a Law->Robin moment. Robin literally has sweat drops from all that crawling. She's probably really like... "Bruh. For real?" However, I think Law is also probably thinking, "I could've made your life a lot easier, darling, but you keep going ahead places without me!" I like to headcanon that he did warp both of them on the way back down though. I think that, if Law were to join back up with the Straw Hats to find out about the Will of D, and he were to decide to just work with Robin until they do find the truth, he would very likely have to remind her that he's coming with her the first few times at least. Robin is so used to doing these excursions alone while the Straw Hats create chaos elsewhere that I can picture her just starting to walk off on her own, and Law being like, "Don't just walk off by yourself!"
I love the panel on the right. That one also had me kicking and screaming into my pillow (I almost wrote creaming instead of screaming, y'all. Wouldn't that have been terrible? lol I need to go to sleep.)
Them just sitting next to each other. They look so cute. The lighting is probably also romantic because it's like an aquarium. Lawbin aquarium date is real. Also, I keep saying probably because I am just assuming colors and shading, among other things. We will see how the anime makes it look. I love the contrast in their faces here too. They both look surprised, but Robin is also asking questions. Law looks surprised but also confused. This is not his field of work, so it makes sense, and that's okay. That's why he sought Robin out back in Chapter 996 in the first place. She would probably be a little confused too if she were to watch him do a surgery. Part of why I ship them is because I think there is so much that they can share and learn from each other. They both have a passion for learning because they're both scholars in their own fields.
This panel I love for very odd reasons. I just like that Law seems to be on the same floor panel as Robin, but he is staying behind her again. Throughout the whole chapter, he seems to have stayed behind Robin. I think that this is because he wants to see and know things, but he understands that he is not the authority here. I don't mean authority as in figure of authority. I mean authority as in expertise. Robin is the living authority on Archeology, and she will be the authority on Poneglyphs once she finds them all. As a scholar himself, Law knows this, so he knows that she's the one that needs to get a closer look at things. He knows she's the one who needs to see things first, so he is giving her the space she needs to do her job. He's being respectful of her and her work. Who wouldn't want this from their husband?
Even here, he has moved a little bit, but he is still staying back. He's just watching Robin and the Poneglyph while listening in on the conversation about an ancient weapon. This must've been a day for him.
Now Sukiyaki has moved up to talk to Robin because he is an authority too. At least on the poneglyphs that are in Wano. Who knows if he has any knowledge of the ones outside. I might be forgetting. It's also late, and I need to go to bed, but I will finish this post. He does say he is not sure what Oden saw outside of Wano, so it is safe to say that he only knows the contents of the poneglyphs in Wano. This is also why I am not a fan of people who put Robin's intelligence down because "she just knows another language." There is so much more to what she does than that because there are so many sub-disciplines in Archeology. It's also not just about reading the poneglyphs. It's about comprehending and interpreting the content. Anyway... Law is not in the panel, so he is still staying back, letting Robin have a conversation with Sukiyaki.
It's funny that when I first got into Lawbin it seemed to be more Robin->Law, but the two biggest and most recent moments have been more Law->Robin. I think Chapter 996 established that Law trusts Robin while Chapter 1055 established Law's respect for Robin. Yes, it does not mean that they are madly in love with each other. However, you cannot have love without trust and respect, so the foundation is there. Oda has said that he is not great at writing romance, so it probably won't happen, but it's fun to ship as long as you can take your shipping goggles on and off and not get too toxic about it like other fandoms (I'm not saying names.) The ship has potential though.
This reminds me that I need to get back to my rewatch so I can put down how I got into Lawbin because I literally went from Zorobin to Frobin to Lawbin. It'll be easier if I do it with my rewatch because it will be chronological. I feel like I would forget some details any other way.
I might come back tomorrow (more like later today at this point lol) and proofread to fix anymore troubling typos.
