You are deep in the paint about One Piece and me and my datemate watched OPLA recently so I will tell you this thing I said while we were talking about Shanks.
He said something to the effect of Shanks is CRAZY STRONG, perhaps one of the strongest, and has some special ability that allows him to tell anyone weaker than him to GTFO, so it's a fucking mystery why he lost his arm when by all rights he never needed to lose the arm. He's still the strongest without it, but why'd he lose it in the first place if he didn't have to???
So I replied, after like a minute of thought, "Because he might not need the arm, but Luffy needed him to lose his arm". Luffy needed the lesson he was going to learn for Shanks giving up that piece of himself to save Luffy's life. He needed to see the stakes and be given that lesson of actions, consequences, collateral damage, giving pieces of yourself for the sake of your crew/family/nakama.
Furthermore, with Sanji and Luffy being connected through "my mentor/surrogate father literally gave up a piece of himself to save my life", stands to logic that Sanji also needed that lesson in the narrative sense. These older guard pirates passed along something vital, giving up something that they don't need to live fulfilling lives but would be seen as incredibly important, to teach the next generation something and give them tools with which to do better.
I don't go here (I don't have the spoons for the entirety of One Piece tbh), but I liked the conclusion I came up with and wanted to share it in the hopes that you might like it too. I don't think I'm breaking any new ground here tbh but as an outsider, it was neat to think about.
I SURE AM, BUDDY X'''D Thanks for popping in! 👀 I got thoughts (and manga screencaps since you won't read it anyway, FREE REIN:
Hm. I mean point taken, but I mean...even the strongest people aren't infallible? Even IF Shanks has Conquerer's Haki (the power in question) which is something very special someone has to be born with and trained to use to its fullest, that doesn't mean it'll fix everything. Also like. He's also been shown to kinda....lose control of it when nervous or on edge.
Like my dude did not have to do this. He mentions later he doesn't like being on different territory or something LOL (he's visiting a different powerful pirate leader here).
Anyway to rescue Luffy at that time, he had to act FAST and was probably SCARED FOR HIM so like. Maybe didn't have the time to make the Haki register? It came down to losing Luffy or bodily thrusting his own arm forward to block the bite from the sea king....and well. Shanks has 2 arms. Only one Luffy. The choice was easy. Even upon losing the arm he didn;t seem upset by it really.
For the sake of the new era he says....the face of it being Luffy himself. And yea the wording really is "I gave it up" and him clearly having no regrets.
STILL I think you do have a point, this was VERY important for Luffy to learn. This same kid stabbed his own face to prove he was "manly enough" to be a pirate (so Shanks wouldn't leave without him....like his brother Ace....like his brother Sabo, to an extent, through "death" in his case) so the realization that being a pirate....would not be easy. There would be sacrifice. There would be pain. But also in a way, it was Shanks showing how important Luffy was to him. This, and passing down that straw hat much to big for Luffy....yeah.
It's clear then he's not ready. Not yet. It's with these parting gifts that Luffy is finally able to let Shanks go, and improve himself so he's strong enough to protect others, so they don;t have to do for him what Shanks did. Luffy learned to live, and while Shanks's sacrifice was devastating to Luffy, he took it to heart to keep going and grow stronger. And yea, that Nakama is just that important, more than limbs. More than life.
NOW SANJI ON THE OTHER HAND....similar but different. Luffy and Sanji were very lonely kids, but for different reasons. Luffy was clingy to anyone who showed him anything close to kindness, while Sanji....puffed up like a scared cat. Without going deep into details, he's from an extremely abusive family that beat into him he's not worth anything because he's weak. Especially from his father. So when Zeff gives him all the food, and sacrifices his own leg....well...
"Why did you do that for me?! I never gave you a reason to be kind to me!!!" And Zeff responds with their shared dreams of the All Blue...but I also feel like it's just. Sanji is a kid. He's just a kid. Again a face of the new generation to come. Zeff had his chance to search for the All Blue and be a pirate, but Sanji's life is just beginning. I'm sure that fueled his decision too.
But unlike Luffy, this just made Sanji cling harder. In a way he gave up his dream to support Zeff, out of guilt, out of a sense of duty and kindness he'd....not really experienced and didn't know what to do with. And Zeff probably allowed it for awhile, because goodness Sanji is just a kid, and he needed someone to help him grow and learn.
But it took Luffy to come along, bringing "I will live for you" to challenge Sanji's "I will die for you" conclusion.
Which uh. Didn't really fix Sanji's self sacrificial nature, but it HELPED, lmao. Eventually he was able to let go of suppori=ting the Baratie to finally chase his dream...as long as he doesn't die for a crewmate in the process hsdhfhdsk
So YEA IDK how much their mentors/father figures knew/thought about their sacrifices, but there sure were willing choices to give up their limbs for the upcoming generation/era, no matter what. I loved Zeff emphasizing that to Garp in OPLA, I think that's extremely important and a huge theme to One Piece in general. Cycles, power, and how many conflicts rise from powerful forces refusing to let go of their power, thus suffocating the new generations (the World Government smacking down so hard on the age of pirates).
Shanks and Zeff gave their support and protection to ensure these kids could live their fullest lives, and I think that's beautiful!
i know they don't ACTUALLY know about it so this won't happen. however. how funny would it be if when fintan's official art is finally released it was the only standalone (that is, not the art of a specific scene) art that was full body. just to give us an answer to the ass question
hiiii baby! i've been a follower for ages and i adore you and your writing!!!! is it possible for me to get a lil something about lukey? maybe where him and the reader are best friends who also have major feelings for each other?? except whenever luke tries to make a move she clams up and gets all flustered (but luke lives for it & gets all cocky about it) and maybe finally he ends up backing her into a wall and kissing her? idk, i mean, take it how you feel inspired! ty darling. love youuuuu
this took a super long time i’m so sorry it’s just that i’m library girl again but I very wanted to write it so here we all are!
Luke hadn’t meant it to end up like this.
It should have been simple. Y/N liked him and he really liked her, and there were no boyfriends or girlfriends or exes of any kind in the way. No feuding parents. No disease, no war, no nothing was standing in their way.
But he hadn’t even properly asked her out yet.
Every time Luke saw her, it was like he had forgotten something important. Like oh, right, I was gonna pick up eggs on my way home and ask her out every time he saw her. But really, when she got all shaken and giddy whenever he looked at her too long, what was a man supposed to do? Just ask her out and risk never seeing her do that tiny little duck of her head again? It was just so sweet the way her eyes skated over him when she thought he wasn’t looking, and he knew that when he told her in no uncertain terms that he desperately wanted to fall in love with her she’d give him different looks, but these - this breathless stage would only last so long. He wanted to hoard these moments like hard candy.
She was so pretty, too, and the fact that she got so adorably clumsy over him went right to his head, every time. When he looked her dead in the eye and told her she was his favourite out of all of the group, she had been too shy to look up from her drink for fifteen minutes solid, he had watched the clock. When she had caught him looking at her lips and he hadn’t looked away, she’d gotten so sweet. One of her friends had told him after that she was sure he couldn’t like her, it was impossible, but otherwise what was he doing looking at her like that?
Luke almost melted when he heard that. It was what made him decide that tonight was the night it ended - she was meeting up with him and a few other people for drinks, and she wasn’t leaving the bar without his hand in hers. He couldn’t let her sit there and think he was playing with her, could he? He was serious. It was way past time she knew.
So he sat there, that night, watching her across the table and trying to think up a way to get her alone.
Maybe he’d ask for her pretty eyes to help him find something. Maybe he’d offer to pick up the next round and drag her along with him, make her white-knuckle the bartop for balance as he flirted with her. That could work. But then what? Ask her out over the clattering of bottles, wait for her to think she misheard, and lean in so close his mouth brushed her ear when he told her he had fallen for her?
Actually, that sounded wonderful, but his girl deserved better than to question what he felt for even a second longer than she had already.
“Hey, Y/N, d’you mind if I talk to you for a second? Somewhere a little quieter?” He said, surprising even himself. As much as you can surprise a whole group of friends who have known about their crushes since the start, anyway. Y/N flushed, but she nodded, and suddenly she was sliding out of their booth and following him into a half-lit corner down the hall towards the restrooms. They both end up leaning one shoulder on the wall, close enough that Luke can see the tip of her little pink tongue darting out to wet her lips, like a marvellous sea-creature. He’s staring again. He doesn’t stop himself.
You’re fidgeting. He can see your hands, looking for something to hold on to. For the first time he thinks he’s nervous, too. “So, what is this about?” Y/N asked, meeting his eyes.
Luke had to catch his breath. He’s smooth, deep down, he knows he is, but when she gives him that look - he has to regroup. He smiled at her, enjoying how she squirmed under it. “’S about you.” He found himself saying. “Christ, darling, don’t you know you drive me crazy?”
“What?”
“Shoulda said something sooner, but you look so pretty when you blush for me.” He teased her, feeling just a little more cocky.
“So all this time you were into me?”
Luke gave himself the luxury of looking her over one last time. “You have no idea, darling.”
Y/N gives him a look that makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and then all he feels are her strong little hands grabbing his shirt and her lips pressed tight againt his for a heart-stopping second and then he stumbled back as she let him go.
Her cheeks are all flushed, and she shifts her weight under his gaze. “You shoulda told me sooner.” She mumbled, looking back at her shoes for a second.
God, she’s a sweet thing. Luke’s gonna fall in love with her if he’s not careful.
But for now he reaches out and holds her waist, crowding her against the wall to kiss her, opening the seam of her lips with his own. Maybe it’s moving too fast, but somehow he doesn’t think so - he’s longed for her for too fucking long to wait another second to taste her.
Ienzo places a hand to the side of Demyx’s face as he whispers into Ienzo’s ear. Hair on the back of his neck stands as a delighted shiver runs down his spine from the breath on his neck. “I do wonder…”
Finally they make it to Ienzo’s room, he swings the door open and ushers Demyx in. “Are you still as flexible as I recall?” He practically purrs out.
