Can I request a fic for Loki x ancient giant reader? (or regular giant reader) I barely see any fics of Loki with reader who's a giant :')
even if the end comes (stand by me) | Loki x Reader
Fandom: One Piece
Pairing: Loki x Reader
Word Count: 4.7k
Genre/Tags: Manga Spoilers, Arranged Marriage, Ancient Giant Reader, Gender Neutral Reader, Feminine language like Queen is used, as well as mentions of birthing capabilities that require being afab at least:?? but it's a fantasy world so i said fck it we ball
A/n: It's been a week since your request anon but since you gave me so much space to work with, I really got into it lmaoo;; I love the arranged marriage trope so I went a little overboard. I hope you enjoy this!! if this wasn't your thing, pls go ahead and drop another request ^^
also available on ao3!
The council should really stop meddling, in your opinion.
Being born with Ancient Giant traces in your lineage, you knew the perceptions of your kind better than anyone else. The idea of being 'pure-blooded' for the royal line was quite an outdated idea, really. You did not want any part of it, but when Prince Loki proposed marriage to Big Mom's child of all people, the council panicked and immediately put pressure on King Harald to set his marriage up with a Giant having Ancient Giant blood in them.
King Harald did not want to engage his son to anyone, knowing full well himself what such a marriage could lead to, and yet he could not completely overthrow the council's… 'kind advice.' And though you had no respect for the council's whims and demands, you did have great respect for King Harald. In an attempt to retain some power over the decision making, King Harald had gone through all the possible candidates (a measly three) and chosen you, for you were the only one actually around Loki's age.
Not to mention, you supported King Harald's views on Elbaph's future. When he had learnt that, there was unmistakeable relief on his features, and you couldn't help but wonder if he truly thought you could make a difference. Prince Loki was well-known for his bigoted and elitist views, claiming Giant supremacy. And yet, he has proposed to Charlotte Lola, who was notably not a Giant—which made you wonder.
It had been two years since she had run away from the marriage, but to Giants, that wasn't as long. He could still be nursing a broken heart, and you did not want to impose yourself on him in any case. An arranged marriage for the purity of maintaining the royal bloodline was the last thing he needed after such a rejection, you thought.
But King Harald had requested you personally, and you were unable to refuse.
So here you were now, waiting with the King and the council to meet the man you were going to be betrothed to. The throne room was filled with the incoherent whispers of those old meddlers, and you could not bring yourself to look at King Harald. He did not want this any more than you did, but between the two of you, there was still this sense of awkwardness brought forth by the fact that you were only agreeing to this for the sake of the respect you held for him.
After all, Loki was truly your opposite. It was impossible for him to agree to marry you, who was so different to him.
The doors to the throne room banged open, startling you out of your thoughts, and the Prince finally barged in. You were already irritated by how long he had made you wait, having no respect for your time, and it only compounded upon seeing the glare he immediately sent you as if you had planned all of this.
"I refuse!" He announced immediately. You couldn't stop yourself from rolling your eyes in time, and decided to commit to it by folding your arms over your chest. Let him know you were not begging to marry him either; it was the last thing you wanted.
"Loki," King Harald immediately tried to placate him, but the council, ignorant and arrogant as they were, interrupted him to regale all of you once again with the speech on how it was important to maintain the sanctity of the royal bloodline. When they started talking about how you must marry and bear children for this great honour, your mouth twisted into a look of disgust even Loki's couldn't match. The two of you were only 45, in your Giant equivalent of what the humans called 'teens.' You were both impressed and disgusted by how clinical they could be about uttering such garbage, but if King Harald couldn't throw them out, then you were even more powerless.
"Why are you acting like you don't know the end result of this insanity?" Loki roared, glaring at his father but pointing at you. You swallowed the urge to speak up, because the adults had all warned you to let them deal with him first.
Everyone knew how Queen Estrid had denounced her own son for he was born with demonic eyes. You never liked her, or the fact that she could so easily abandon her own child over something so inconsequential. How unfeeling and selfish does a person have to be to do that?
Loki's claims had basis. You could have been just like her, like one of those other Giants who only care about the title and the power. But the truth was you did not care for that—you only wanted to live a peaceful and happy life on Elbaph, learning and teaching and shaping this land into one where knowledge, culture, history and love bound people.
"Prince Loki, argument is futile," one of the council spoke up, unfazed by his anger. "This is your duty, the one you have been bound to since before your birth."
"And you want my future child to be bound to this ridiculous notion as well?" He hissed, and you could truly understand his anger in that. Honestly though, if you became Queen, you would try your level best to abolish the council first and foremost; they were far too meddlesome and powerful for your liking.
"Enough!" King Harald boomed, shutting up both sides. "Loki, the blood you claim to take so much pride in was the result of my marriage with Estrid. Our beliefs aside, there are certain duties we are bound to for the sake of Warland. And because I did not want you to suffer as I did, I chose the one you are going to marry. You will not be disappointed, of that I can assure you."
You laughed mirthlessly and soundlessly at the words; there was nothing harder than to please Prince Loki. For him to be not disappointed, for him to be okay with you, was a pipe dream at best.
"Talk amongst yourselves before you refuse," King Harald growled. He promptly stood up and left, leaving the throne room. Loki sent you one last glare before stomping out himself. You wondered if it would be okay for you to ignore the king's order and tried to make your way to the door.
The council stopped you in your tracks, and you tried not to let your disdain of them show, but their words made it all quite too difficult.
"You would do well to remember what is at stake, child."
A threat to your family, to your village, to all those you held close—all simply because they happened to be subjects of Warland, and these old jerks happened to hold sway over them all.
You were against violence, and you did not believe in the crap that Giants have inherently violent tendencies. But these people, they made you wish that you didn't advocate for peace—just so you could punch them to the next century. No, next millenium. May mother nature swallow their flesh and bone before they could wake up.
"Prince Loki, wait!" You called out after him. He had already walked quite a distance, the palace left far behind as he made his way to the underworld. Loki ignored you in favour of slipping down to the snow covered hellscape. You ran after him, cursing under your breath as you found yourself in the snow covered underworld.
And yet all you could do in your position was nod and not let any of your thoughts show on your face. They filed out, leaving you standing in the empty throne room, reminding you that even at your best, you were going to be all alone in this.
•
"Stop following me," Loki snarled, finally stopping in his tracks. You huffed out a breath as you finally stood across him, hands on your hips.
"I do not desire this marriage any more than you do, Prince Loki," you offered him a plain smile. He stilled at those words, and you briefly wondered how his expression must have changed beneath the bandages. "I cannot imagine how difficult this must be for you, so soon after…"
You trailed off, unsure how to word it. Loki tensed, his body dropping into a defensive posture.
"Do not speak of things you do not know," he warned, and you decided to switch tracks.
"But we are duty bound," you whispered, looking down at your own palms. "I cannot fight against the council, and neither can you. Though we share no love, I believe it would be in our best interests to play our parts. I will not bind you to the duties of a spouse, so long as you do not beholden me to the same. We can be engaged in name alone, until we can figure out a way to circumvent–"
"Or," Loki interrupted, a smirk on his face, "I could beat you up, and then no one would insist we marry."
You paused, taking a second to scrutinise if this was a terrible attempt at a joke, or if he was being serious. You didn't have the luxury to truly wonder though, because Loki pounced on you the very next moment, and your instincts kicked in to dodge his attacks.
With every punch and kick that you dodged, Loki's expression changed. He had thought that you, who advocated for that peaceful nonsense crap, would not know how to fight. It wasn't his brightest idea, but Loki had thought that if he just managed to hurt you a bit, you would not stand to be married to him and the council and his father would have to change their minds.
He hadn't expected you to know how to fight, though you were refusing to fight back. You were carefully only dodging his blows, on your defence. And that sent a thrill up his spine, as he wondered how he could make you fight back.
"Stop holding back," he said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice as you once again dodged him with the kind of ease that spoke of consistent training. "Fight me back!"
"Prince Loki, I do not wish to fight you," you replied, barely ducking in time to avoid the swipe he attempted. "You know I have no interest in violence for the sake of violence!"
"And yet you are unexpectedly good at fighting," he pointed out, not toning down his advances in the least. You scowled at his relentless pursuit.
"Knowing how to defend yourself is a skill I believe every Giant should know regardless of who and where they are."
"And this doesn't go against your no violence nonsense?" He asked, finally slowing down to challenge you in a verbal argument. You huffed, straightening out your hair and clothing before you answered.
"I believe that Giants are not inherently violent," you explained. "However, what I truly advocate is the freedom of choice. I do not want our future generations to grow up believing that fighting is in their blood and so that is the only end they can have. I want an Elbaph full of Giants who are learned, who are strong enough to defend themselves, and who have the knowledge to make a choice about what they truly want to do. I do not agree with all of King Harald's changes such as completely erasing fighting skills from the children's curriculum, but I still admire him for at least taking a step in that direction. Not everything is black and white, Prince Loki."
"So that's your grand plan for when you become Queen?" Loki's voice was strange, and not for the first time, you wished you could see his eyes, if only so that his face would tell what he was truly thinking.
"No, that is my wish as a citizen of Warland, as a Giant of Elbaph," you corrected him. "If you would stop fighting me, and agree to this arrangement, I might become the Queen. But that is not for a long time. Even if I do not become the Queen, I want to do my best for this wonderful land we have been fortunate to be born on."
Loki was silent for a few seconds, then snorted. "You speak a bunch of fancy crap. Whatever. I guess I can tolerate this… arrangement, as you put it."
You blinked, staring after him as the prince walked off. The words took a few seconds to click, but when you finally understood, you gave a sigh of relief.
Somehow, your betrothal turns into an excuse for Loki to spar with you. Eventually he wears you down and you start fighting back, treating it as good training for the both of you. It becomes your thing, with the two of you ignoring the topic of marriage and simply engaging in fighting. Although Loki was still the brash, violent, and crude prince you knew him as, there was a shift in how you saw him.
"You better be back here tomorrow to fight me for real," Loki called out from the distance. "If I don't find you here for a spar, I can't say if I would be able to tolerate the arrangement anymore."
•
Maybe because of the difference in distance, maybe because there was this strange satisfaction in outsmarting him, or maybe because you got to see his cocky smirk from up close so often—you found your heart beating a little faster than normal.
And though Loki would never say it, he found himself enjoying the time spent around you too. You didn't seem to care about his reputation as the problem prince, and… surprisingly, you didn't seem to care about his eyes either. In fact, you seemed to even like them.
It started off innocently enough.
In one of your sparring sessions, you had nicked his bandages, causing them to tear. Loki's hands automatically came up to hold them in place, but that was all the gap you needed to topple him down, and then you were bracketing his waist, with your sword pointed at his throat; and Loki's face was fully visible, his eyes widened in surprise. Your own eyes had widened for a brief second in shock, but your smug smile did not drop.
"It's my win, handsome," you teased him. You had figured out that Loki could get surprisingly flustered with certain compliments. Although he was arrogant enough to not blink at compliments about his strength, he was weirdly cagey about compliments to his looks and to his personality. You had seen his eyes and yet teased him like that, and Loki frowned, thinking that your words must hold no weight. Empty praises to get a rise out of him, that's all they were.
And so he had averted his gaze until you clambered off and held out your hand to help him get up. He ignored it in favour of retying his bandages. You pouted and walked off, murmuring, "What a shame."
Loki paused at the words, unsure why your behaviour seemed to jab something inside him. He did not care for others' opinions of him, and you were no different. Right? If you found his eyes as disgusting as his mother had, as everyone else did, you would be no different.
But the next day, you nicked his bandages off again, and the smile on your face was somehow brighter than before. It did not seem like his eyes mattered to you. The way you saw him, the way you acted around him, none of it changed. If anything, you seemed to smile at him more when his eyes were exposed.
Still, he kept them covered. Somehow, his eyes remaining open made him feel vulnerable. Like you could read him, and see through to his soul whenever your eyes met.
He was more careful with his bandages from then on, and the sparring sessions seemed to build up a different kind of tension from before, the distance between you two diminishing so that you were pressed up against each other more often than not. Yet both of you hesitated to act on anything, and Loki would end up speaking harshly afterwards, as if to balance it out.
You never seemed to be hurt by his words, but one day, his words must have been particularly harsh because you had this expression that he never wished to see again. You had thrown your sword at him, and by the time he got up from dodging it, you had walked off faster than ever before. Loki found himself following you quietly, and was surprised to find you at Ida's empty, closed bar.
"Oh no, sweetheart, what's wrong?" The older Giant was always sweet and kind to you, and you sought her comfort and advice when things became tough. Your family and village had some outdated ideas about how to deal with the engagement (re: seducing the young prince), but Ida seemed to be on the same page as you.
"'S nothing," you mumbled, asking her for a drink. "Loki is being an ass again."
"Ah," Ida smiled knowingly, not speaking anything more as she wiped down a glass for you.
"How are you?" You asked, hoping to change the topic. Ida seemed to be slightly sick these days, and you worried for her health. She returned an exhausted smile.
"Same old, same old," she tried to reassure you, but seeing you frown, she tried to change tactics. "Think I could see a marriage anytime before I get well?"
You snorted, joking, "If you set me up with Hajruddin maybe."
Loki, who was totally not eavesdropping on you two from the window, froze at the words.
"Then I can finally be your daughter-in-law and you will let me take care of you whenever you get sick," you teased her.
"Nope, not even then," she whacked you lightly on your head with her towel. "And between us two, you know I know that you wouldn't really be happy with my eldest son."
"I don't know what you are talking about," you grumbled, looking out the window. "Liking Loki sounds more like a painful experience than however love is supposed to be. Nothing like what you and King Harald have."
Loki decided that he had heard enough; for some reason, his chest felt funny at your words, and there was an uneasy pit in his stomach at the thought of you marrying Hajruddin. It didn't make sense because he hadn't really wanted to marry you, but at this point, it felt more foolish to deny it.
Somewhere along the two some years he had gotten to know you, he had started liking you. And the truth was that Prince Loki of Elbaph, who had given up on love right after his birth, knew all too well that love was not something he was worthy of. A pure love was not something he would ever receive. Not when his own mother could not love him.
So how could you? Maybe you would really be happier with Hajruddin. And wasn't that an ugly thought?
Even if you would be happier with him, Loki didn't want to give you up. So what if you like Hajruddin better? So did everybody else on Elbaph. And yet you were betrothed to him, to Loki. So he just had to make you stay.
You never figured out what changed, or why, but Loki stopped saying mean and harsh things to you. Instead he would awkwardly break off the tension to escape conversation. You were left watching him in confusion every time, wondering if this was some weird truce he was trying at. Then you thought, nah, that can't be.
Prince Loki was not worthy of love, in his own eyes. But he could try to become worthy to one Giant. To you.
•
But you noticed the changes more and more as time passed. The way Loki was relaxed around you. The way he would hold back in the spars to never let anything even accidentally hurt you. The way he let you touch him, sometimes even initiating contact. The way he asked questions and listened to you talk about your ideas.
And you didn't understand what was going on, but you couldn't say you disliked it. He was still gruff and rough and said things he didn't quite mean, because he would always do the opposite—but he was trying to be nicer, and if you pointed it out, he would just get angry and stop, so you didn't.
You just tried to show your support through your actions. Smiling more at him, bringing him food sometimes, leaning into his side when he let you, and once even telling him that you really liked his eyes so if he wanted to remove the bandages just around you, he could do it.
The silence at your words had been deafening, as you wondered if you had crossed a line you shouldn't have, but then he removed the bandages, and you noticed the pink in his cheeks and realised—Loki was shy. And his eyes looked a little scared and a little disbelieving, but you just gave him a soft smile and said, "They suit you well, my prince."
Things were going so well, you thought that within a few years, you might actually get married. And the impending marriage didn't feel that damning anymore, not when you found yourself falling in love, not when you felt Loki reciprocating in his own actions.
Though you both ignored talking about it, you dreamed about a future where you could be married and happy. Where he might be king, and you might be queen, and you shaped Elbaph into the greatness King Harald had kick-started.
And you thought that it would be nice to go out and explore what is out there for yourself so you could do more good as a Queen someday. So you requested to get on a cargo ship that conducted trade with some of the neighbouring and allied islands. The council wasn't happy but Loki agreed and so did King Harald and so you set sail, thrumming with excitement to learn and come home with enough courage to let Loki know how you really felt.
But good things never last. You should have known that.
When you returned to Elbaph 3 years later, you had lost too much. You lost Ida. Loki destroyed Brewers village, and your village immediately retracted the marriage arrangement because they feared they would be next. And then King Harald died, and everyone said it was Loki who killed him, calling him the shame of Elbaph, while you watched everything you had dreamed about crumble one after the other.
Nothing made sense. It was difficult to even look at Hajruddin, when you could feel his anger and grief, and you couldn't agree with him. It was difficult to stand in front of Ida and Harald's graves, not knowing what to say. It was difficult to face your village without feeling like you were living different lives, with very different priorities and goals.
Time doesn't heal much when you are burdened with questions and no answers. It only taught you to make peace with having the questions unanswered, especially since Loki had long left Elbaph and you doubted he would ever come back.
But he was brought back eventually. The Red-haired Emperor of the Sea brought him back and Chief Jarul had him chained up in the Underworld. You wanted to see him, but the decision to not execute him struck you as odd, and you decided to confront the oldest Giant in Elbaph first before you went down.
Chief Jarul had denied answering you before when you had questioned him, but this time he finally relented and told you the truth of what had happened. And everything fell into place once more, because yeah, that sounded more like the Loki you knew.
So you went down to the Underworld to face the prince who had left Elbaph to go destroy the World Government. Seeing him chained and bruised up, you couldn't help the small gasp that left you. Loki had always held such an imposing figure in front of you, full of strength and power, that it was jarring to see him defeated and wounded.
He tensed upon seeing you and smiled derisively.
"Come to mock me, have you?" He asked, and it was like the first time you had met all over again. You ignored him in favour of running your fingers over his bruises. Loki flinched at the featherlight touch, the sea-stone chains jangling from the movement. "No? Ah, then you must be here because of that stupid arrangement."
You paused in your ministrations to raise an eyebrow at him.
"Maybe you are a little out of touch," he hissed, his mocking smile never waning. "You are free now. This sham marriage they tried to push on you is done with, so you don't have to keep trying. You got what you want, so go and live out your life however you wanted to!"
And really, did he think he was a good actor? You really weren't very impressed with his attempts. Tilting your head at him, you smiled back at him in the same way you had before you had left Elbaph. The sight made him freeze, as always.
"I'm afraid that what I want," you said carefully, bringing a hand up to undo the bandages covering his eyes, "is chained up in the Underworld at the moment."
Loki's breath hitched, and you saw him open his mouth to probably barrage you with insults and mean taunts that had once upon a time hurt your young heart. But you knew better now, and you knew what he was truly like, what he truly meant to say beneath crude words.
"You cannot be rid of me, Prince Loki," you said sweetly, your own smile taking an edge as you finally slipped off the bandages. Loki's eyes were wide in shock and disbelief. You brushed your thumb over his left cheek, right under his eye, and continued, "So what if they had arranged this marriage first? There's no rule saying that I can't marry you of my own accord. If anything, their arrangement shows how perfect I am; they cannot deny me on the basis of my status or who I am."
"You…" Loki seemed to be stunned speechless, and the sight of him like that made you laugh softly. "I don't want you. You give yourself too much credit. You have no place in my ambitions. I am Prince Loki, the Sun God, and I will destroy the world!"
"Okay," you agreed, still giving him a loving smile. "Let's destroy the world together. I know what happened 7 years ago. I have a score to settle with those World Government people too."
"You, you hate violence." Loki tried to say it like a statement but it came out as a question.
"I do," you replied. "I just hate them a little more."
Loki was looking so bewildered and baffled by every word out of your mouth that you decided to take pity on him. Backing away from where he was chained, you tucked your hands behind your back and said with all seriousness,
"I love you, Prince Loki of Elbaph. I will get you out of these chains so you can stand next to me on the altar of life to swear your soul unto me. And when we are married, we will leave this island to 'destroy the world' and set it free. So I won't ask you if you will marry me. You have a tendency to lie about your feelings, and it seems you haven't changed in the years we have spent apart."
"When did I lie?!" Loki sounded outraged, but you just smirked.
"If you think I didn't recognise your ploy to get me away from you so that I don't get involved with the World Government, then you must think me stupider than I am."
Loki paused at that, and then finally let out a huff of laughter.
"Fine, you win," he murmured. "You want to marry me so bad, you look stupid."
You barked out a laugh at his sad attempt.
"No, silly," you said, just a bit sweeter than usual. "You love me so bad, you look stupid trying to be the hero you are not."
°•❀•°
All likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!
A/n: also, just as a fyi, I was doing giant age math for this fic and realised that since Loki was (human age) 17 when he had to kill Harald (which is insanity to me, he was so young TT) the Lola marriage proposal must have happened after Harald's death during his marine hunting phase. I really wanna know the details of how and why he proposed to Lola lmao,, I hc he asked Lola's hand when she was 20 and he was 19-ish (in human equivalence).
