[Just had the random thought about Rev's clawed Crocodile getting the "girlfriend manicure" for his toxic situationship/or wife depending on the verse. For some reason it's sending me.]
[I like Doffy and Rosinante's parents. I think they were extremely naive , and they put their children in an unforgiveable situation, but I also understand how it all played out that way.
I'm watching Dressrosa now and wondering what their reactions would be to who their son grew up to become that isn't "extreme horror". I wonder more about their mother because I always think more about the Oda Background Moms. Would she blame herself and watch helplessly? Would she plead with him to stop? Tell him that he's a good boy and he can still change?]
Side note: I feel like Doffy was a mama's boy. Whether he's purged that from himself or remembers her with rose-colored glasses on, no idea.]
[The plan was to hop on and write after work, but I'm overstimulated due to some work issues, so I need to retreat into something like mindless TV or gaming. The chromebook should be here tomorrow!]
"Croco--" sniffsniffsniff--" Tess squirms at the press of his nose against the side of her neck, huffing with a mix of annoyance and ticklish laughter as he takes a deep whiff of her. A flush spreads down her face and across her throat, disappearing beneath the collar of her shirt. "Crocodi--"
Mr. 3 is staring at them both, the accounts book he'd been reading over hanging limply in his hand. Miss Valentine smirks. Miss Goldenweek... keeps on painting, thank G-d.
Sniffsniffsniff.
"CROCODILE!" She plants a palm against that giant forehead of his and shoves it away, scowling.
"You gotta steel yourself
Oh, you gotta steel yourself
You gotta steel yourself
You gotta steel your
You gotta steel yourself
Seven years swimming in the belly of the beast
Kept a smile on my face while I grit my teeth
With my eye on the sky I was waiting for the sun
Now I rise from the night 'cause my day is come
(Warm blade, soft flesh, knives out)
It′s all just a big test..."
-- SPELLES, "Machete" (Acoustic Version)
OOF. Okay, this one is going to involve a lot of talking.
The Kaiju Kaiju no Mi is so hard to use (and hasn't been awakened by any past users) because the transformation isn't pain free. Bones snap and reshape. Cracks spread through skin. Sharp teeth push through the games, and in the full kaiju transformation (Final Form), the eyes rupture. The pain that comes with "shifting" the body in any way is why the Knights of God used to train up potential candidates when they had the Kaiju Kaiju no Mi in their possession. Its users don't tend to survive long because of the effects on their mental health. There's a whole big long meta I can write, but I'm getting off topic.
What this means is that Tess hasn't accessed all of her powers, and the 15+ years she was in hiding to train was to learn to use her transformation abilities without shying away from the pain. (Intense emotions can also trigger minor transformations along with severe wounds, which means if she winds up in a full transformation, a lot of innocent people could die, lose their homes, etc.) One of her surviving crew members brought her supplies for a while, but there was a period of time where she was essentially out of her mind from pain and anxiety. The Will of D kept her alive.
(I'm reining in my need for more exposition! There are pages I can write about the Kaiju Kaiju no Mi.)
But TL;DR: she was in hiding and mostly living in solitude for over a decade. The Fiddleback Pirates (and a transformed Tess) basically wiped a Grand Line military base off the map. The Knights of God wanted their fruit back, etc. She needed to make sure she was safe to be with people, and she needed the Marines and the Knights of God to think she died. One of the areas where she spent an extended period of time was an archipelago without daylight. No sun, no people, etc.
Things were not great. She did spend the final two or three years with actual people on an island with the very original name of "Starry Island" so that she could reacclimate. But basically, the Kaiju Kaiju no Mi is her challenge. It's her permanent test. If she doesn't change things for the better with her powers, the Fiddleback Pirates died for nothing, and she can't think of a worse insult to the memories of the people she loved. That's also why her end game is joining the Revolutionary Army. She can't overthrow the Marines herself and she can't overthrow the system established by the World Government.
What she can do is bring the "storm" that follows her to Dragon's forces and combine it with their own. But yes, I think these lyrics are a good summary of her time alone after the death of her crew, the hardships she endured, and how she had to change.
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