Was listening to Once Upon a December and became possessed and speedran an AU in my brain of basically where Sora divorces and exiles Judge, and eventually marries Zeff. But Judge returns and this results in the whole family besides Zeff and Sanji being killed. Cue the usual plot of the movie -rolls wrist-
Zoro wants the reward money so he can pay off Nami kjhflk
All in all, I just really wanted to replicate the heartbreaking scene of Anastasia dancing with the memory figment of her father while her family watches :‘3
I love Oda but man is INSANE for not making the timeskip more relevant to the straw hats outside of power ups
Brook: Literally a rockstar??? There should have been a running gag where people ask Brook for his autograph at every island they visit! It would be so funny if some villains were starstruck fans trying to keep it together during a fight!
Sanji: It would have been great if the newkama recipes came up more than once. There could have been a gag where Sanji stops in the middle of a battle to literally cook a power up for the crew. Imagine this man dicing onions in Onigashima, force-feeding Zoro a stew during his fight with King
Robin: She worked under Dragon for two years, met Sabo and Koala and maybe Ivankov, she probably knows the Army’s entire plan to take down the gov and yet it never comes up! Does she know about Kuma? Nika? The five elders? Does she secretly communicate with the Rev Army????
Zoro: I love the idea of Perona teaching Zoro about fashion. It wouldn’t have plot relevance but imagine him busting out some fashion tips out of nowhere every so often.
I’d love to hear more ideas, the missed opportunities here haunt me.
Also consider: Robin starts saying “like father like son!” at random moments of the day. Luffy could be unhinging his jaw to eat a sandwich or just vibing. She never explains what she means.
Luffy not knowing about Zoro promising Sanji to kill him if he ever ends up losing himself makes me go feral because that’s something they can only know about. Because Zoro’s respect for life and death goes beyond anything, and Sanji knows he understands. Sanji knows that if somebody has to kill him, it’s him.
And I don’t even think it’s because Sanji assumes Zoro’s opinion of him is hatred and it would hurt less for him to do this, but because Sanji knows only Zoro would be able to treat the promise as it is. Because he would put Sanji’s wishes before any feelings he has for him. It’s not that Zoro doesn’t care, but I think he respects people’s ideals and decisions to the extent of being able to kill Sanji if he so desires.
That being said, he’d do it if there’s no other way to fix it. If it’s either dying or living as an emotionless machine, which is the same as dying for Sanji, Zoro would fulfill his promise. And there is just… Something about Luffy not knowing. Their captain. The man they’re devoted to the most as if he were their God. Luffy doesn’t know. It’s something only the captain’s wings are aware of and the thought of these two keeping this from Luffy until the end is just insane. Not even trying to make it romantic here, but the bond and respect these two have for each other is crazy.
Maybe it’s the poetry of it all, too. Somebody like Zoro, who has looked at Death in her face multiple times and said “no”, ending Sanji’s life, who wants to give in to death to not experience a fate worse than death for him.
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