After what feels like ages, I can finally introduce to you...
Evie's Guide to Piracy (in One Piece)
Part 1: Directions
This doesn't just apply to piracy but sailing in general. If you're on a ship, these are the proper directions you would usually use. I'm gonna split these into two sections: The wind stuff and the ship stuff.
WIND STUFF
windward / upwind = the direction that the wind is coming from
leeward (pronounced "loo'ard") / downwind = the direction that the wind is going in
lee = the leeward area adjacent to a ship
lee side = the part of the ship further leeward
veering = the wind changing direction; for example: "The wind is veering away from the coast. It always veers when we least want it to."
SHIP STUFF
conning = giving the helmsman orders
larboard / port = left; the left side of the ship
starboard = right; the right side of the ship
fore = the frontmost (= foremost) section of a ship you can still stand on
bow / prow = the front tip of the ship's hull
forward (pronounced "for'erd") / afore = towards the front, ahead
afterward / aft = backmost section of the ship you can still stand on
stern = back end of the ship's hull
abaft / astern = backwards
amidships = middle of the ship (both horizontal and vertical)
aloft = up
below = down
So, that's part one! Others about ship parts and roles in pirate crews are coming soon. If there are other topics you want me to cover, let me know!
How does the berry system work? if i want to give my ocs a bounty what should i consider? how do i know how high the bounty should be? what would be considered too high or too low? what type of bounty for what type of character? what's considered high or low? what to take into consideration?
Hi, thanks for your question! I'm so sorry for not answering sooner - university has been very busy and I've been stuck in hyperfixation land for another fandom. BUT the answer for how the Berry system is actually quite simple:
Apparently, 1 Berry is about the same as 1 Japanese Yen. And there are hundreds of converters from Yen to any currency and the other way around.
As for bounties, what's considered high or low changes a whole lot depending on which sea your character is in - bounties in the Grand Line are generally higher than in the four Blues, especially the East Blue, which is the weakest of the four. For comparison, Luffy, at the end of OPLA, has the highest bounty of the East Blue: 30 Million Berry. But in the Grand Line, you can easily get over 100 Million or more.
Power scalers in the fandom like to see a character's bounty as a representation of their strength. I say: Don't do that. Bounties are given based on how much trouble you cause for the Marines/the Government. This means if you don't get caught, you don't get a bounty. If you don't seem particularly dangerous, you don't get a bounty, or at least not a very high bounty. On the other hand, if you cause a lot of trouble (perhaps even by chance or without meaning to), you get a very high bounty. If you're related to people whom the government sees as dangerous, you'll get a high bounty. You can get a bounty just for pissing someone in power off, even if you only looked at them funny. Being a revolutionary or being connected to the revolutionaries will most likely get you a high bounty just by association.
So, to sort of summarize: Bounties are very situational. They depend on where the bounty is issued, who issues it, and how much of an annoyance or even threat your OC is to the Government - perceived, not actual!
As a general guide, I'd use other characters as a reference on what your OC's bounty should be. If your OC is similar to a canon character with a bounty, you could give them a similar bounty. If your character is weaker then them, go a bit lower; if they're stronger, go higher. I know I said strength isn't what makes a bounty, but someone who's stronger will often be considered more of a threat, so it's good criteria.
Some more notes: Not all pirates have a bounty, but at a certain point in the Grand Line, it's likely they will have one. 99.9% of World Government bounties are issued as "Dead or Alive". Finding someone with "Only Alive" is extremely rare and you'd need to justify why the Government wouldn't want them dead at any cost. As for "Only Dead" bounties, I don't think any of those exist, and the Marines have been known to pay bounty hunters 30% less than the allotted bounty for a dead pirate than if they were alive. Also, a bounty poster will usually have the wanted person's full name if possible, but the more well-known name is often preferred in cases where nobody knows the person's actual name. Pretty much every character with a bounty also has an epithet to go with it, so be creative with that! Think of "Red Leg" Zeff, "Straw Hat" Luffy, Kuro "of a Thousand Plans", stuff like that. Those epithets aren't visibly listed on the bounty posters, strangely enough, even though they seem to become "official" and known along with the bounty. Don't ask me how that works, it just does.
There are also country-specific bounties, but those work by a different system entirely and depend on the country they're issued in, so I won't go into detail about those here.
So, I hope that helped at least a little bit! Sorry again for the late answer and I hope you're having a lovely day <3
