I Just Preferred Shanks To Be The Interesting One With More Layers Rather Than Twist Done To Death By

SHACHI SAYS TRANS RIGHTS!!!!!!! 🏳️‍⚧️

@transfem-sanuso hi

some weeks old sabolaw drawing i didn't wanna let marinate on my pc

my nephew watched me draw this and asked me if they could "please be at a wedding". so they're officially guests at franky and robin's wedding <3

this is also my official "law is shorter" headcanon post 🥳🥳 cheers to the short king

bonus wips i didn't have the energy to fix/clean of them actually dancing together (or attempting to) under the cut!

they're insufferable

(reference for the first wip here, reference for the second one here)

references for their outfits (and sabo's hairstyle) from none other source than one piece grand collection; here's the link for sabo's outfit, and the link for law's. enjoy!

heart pirates dumpppp :D

I hate shanks twin so much

this made me laugh out loud, thank you anon

seeing he's the leader of the god's knights it's a sentiment i completely understand and share. however i'm still excited to see how this whole thing plays out, it might be an appealing subplot storyline, and i also can't wait to see how shanks will react to all this lmao. i love analyzing shanks through his reactions and this seems like it will be quite the wild ride for him lol

Rabbit Zoan's your Deuce.

Small disclaimer before you head in: this whole post will be referencing the TCB translation. I know VIZ handled the exchange I'm discussing differently, but I couldn't find anyone who talked about the original version and as a result I don't really know who is closer to the original meaning. In any case, the "analysis" should still stand. Whether Dragon was commenting Sabo's firmness or admiring his resolution, Sabo's still putting on a mask, and that's the point I'm trying to break down. Enjoy!

This very specific interaction between Dragon and Sabo in chapter 1083 has always stuck out to me.

"My, you really are unshakeable."

which is an appropriate response to what Sabo said, of course. What kind of sensitive person reacts that way to the death of an innocent, right?

Even so, I can't help but compare the thing Sabo said to his actual, genuine reaction to King Kobra's death.

He's devastated.

Sabo brokenly screams Kobra's name, and his expression is one of full despair; he never thought about killing Kobra, let alone letting him die. On the contrary, he actively tried to save him.

Kobra told him to just let him go, that he was dead weight and he shouldn't be concerned about him, but Sabo straight up refused. In fact, Kobra's actions read way more as a sacrifice than an inevitable death; the king let himself die, knowing that this way Sabo could flee and reach Vivi and Luffy safely.

On the Lulusian ship, we see Sabo think about Kobra's last words to him and actively trying not to cry (and failing).

That's not an unshakable man. He's suffering, he's grieving. He realizes he failed his very own mission of saving the king and lets the meaning behind Kobra's actions and words sink in.

It really puts his former reaction into perspective.

Sabo's firmness, seriousness and coldness in front of Dragon and Ivankov are nothing but a façade. He acknowledges that what he's about to say might come off as harsh, and that, even if he does feel sorry for Kobra, the tragedy doesn't weigh him down thanks to the results it brought, but it all sounds like he's reassuring himself more than actually showing his indifference.

Hell, he even drinks his glass of wine right after having said that "he doesn't really care". How can anyone take his words seriously?

And we've been knowing Sabo is inclined to do this sort of thing since Dressrosa; he acted all cool and composed in front of Luffy but the second Koala called him on the Den Den Mushi he was weeping, having a hard time believing that his little brother didn't punch him or hate him for being alive all along. He even denied he was crying!

All because Sabo hates being seen as vulnerable, especially in front of the people he thinks he has to be strong for (Luffy, Dragon, etc). It's something I think goes back to how his parents treated him, since they scolded him for, y'know, having emotions and being a normal kid in need of love, but i digress.

I once saw someone describing Sabo as a very cold person in comparison to his brothers, even going as far as to say that Sabo doesn't care if people die if it means achieving the Revolutionary Army's goals (using this very interaction as proof), which couldn't be further away from the truth.

Bonney even says outright that it's weird seeing a "radical revolutionary" act so friendly when Sabo helps her out. Why would he do this if all he ever did was for "The Cause"?

Yes, Sabo is ruthless, rude, violent at times, and his friendly demeanor could be seen as a little more volatile than that of his brothers', but he's not heartless. He's not a "meanings to an end" guy, he proves it time and time and time again, and it's disheartening seeing people label him as such.

Sabo is kind. He may not be as warm as Ace and Luffy, but he is fundamentally a good person. A generous, kind, caring, sensitive person.

No matter how hard he tries to hide it.

i'm very big on sabolaw because (to me) they just make sense. a whole lot of sense.

they both have their similarities in terms of backstory and lore: both of them saw the truth about the society they lived in at the age of 10, between the flames of a city, or part of a city, that they called home, and they both have lost an important figure in their life with whom they seeked freedom, and to whom they promised to keep their will alive, now living through their vows.

both sabo and law are in search of freedom. for sabo, it is more of an universal freedom, the freedom of the people before his own, even if it started as something he yearned for himself; for law, it's effectively a personal freedom, a freedom he wants to achieve for his own person, and for cora. but in order to achieve both of their goals and be free, they have to discover the truth about their world, and their lives. the true history.

checkered fate.

interestingly enough, in the manga sabo and law are described to both have a checkered fate; the five elders use this adjective to describe sabo's destiny, because he's surrounded by people with the moniker D, and law uses it to describe his own fate, when he decides he wants to seek out the meaning behind his name, and so discover the truth about the will of the D.

now, this is why i think sabo and law will end up working together, sooner or later. i know that law becoming an ally of the revolutionary army and/or linking up with sabo is a very popular theory and i'm so, SO glad it is! because it really makes sense, doesn't it?

sabo is destined to be involved with people with the initial D in their name, and was just now trusted with the task to deliver vivi and luffy the message that vivi is a D just like luffy is, making him even more involved than he already was with the clan and its descendants. on the other side, we have law, whose newly found objective is to find the truth behind his existence, thus uncovering the "true history", which will inevitably bring him closer to other "D"s and to those who always get mixed up with them.

if we add these bits of info to the whole imu situation...

imu is, most certainly, an immortal being, who became immortal thanks to the ability of the ope-ope no mi. ivankov literally SHOWS the fruit to sabo in chapter 1086!

and i mean, i doubt sabo still doesn't know who law is. he was in dressrosa, after all (also im so so so convinced sabo and law met sometime during the timeskip bc law saved luffy's life and iva was right there and how could sabo not know that was law who saved his little brother's life and how could he not go and thank law for what he did i mean- c'mon-) and he most likely knew about the alliance with luffy and everything else. so he should know that law is the wielder of the ope-ope no mi, and it would be obvious for him to seek law out in order to know more about the fruit's ability and find a counterattack to imu's (and, probably, the five elders') immortality. it would be so disappointing if after all these little hints they ended up never meeting. like, at all.

finally, sabo and law's dynamic would be soooo interesting!! sabo is similar to luffy in some ways, but he's also... completely different. i think law wouldn't lose his mind working with sabo, because yes, sabo is irresponsible and impulsive and a bit of a jerk- but he follows the plan, he's strategic, he's stealthy and logical, and he puts the success of the mission above everything else (that isn't luffy, of course). law can work splendidly with that. i also think they would have a very entertaining back-and-forth, both of them being as witty and blunt as they are. they would be equals, and have a very well balanced relationship. sabo is cheerful and kind, fiery and elegant, which is a good contrast to law's cold, serious demeanour, and heartless façade (because law cares just as much as sabo, he wants to help people just as much as him; he is a doctor, after all). also their devil fruits would work so well, so good together, it would be so cool- oda i'm begging you, please, let them be partners, please-

one piece gakuen and stampede showed us a bit of how their possible dynamic could work, and i pray day and night that we can have something like that in the main manga, too. i need it.

tl;dr: sabolaw is a very good pairing with a lot of potential that i hope will be explored in the story sometime in the future. please do consider them!!!

if after the most recent op episode you start to take a liking to ahiru (belo betty's subordinate), and you want to draw her or create any fan content of her, please keep in mind she has already appeared in the anime and THIS was her original color scheme (she looks the same in the official colored manga if you're wondering) !!!

toei whitewashed her and changed her whole color scheme for the newest episode:

so this is how she appears now, apparently.

as we all know, the one piece anime is notorious for whitewashing its characters. i think it's incredibly important to keep using ahiru's original color scheme in fan content, because she was originally a person of color and it's vital that we as a fandom do not succumb to toei's attempt at erasing other races and ethnicities.

to all op artists, please draw fanart for ahiru and please use her original color scheme!!! don't let the new one replace the original one!!!

Hi 😊👋 I'm a huge fan of Law too. I've just finished reading Law novel too. Maybe you want to share your thoughts on this asks:

Does Law see his crew as subordinates or friends? Would you say that Law has a weakness for people who have a trauma too? 🤔

i'm sure law sees them all as his friends.

at the start of the novel, when law asks bepo, shachi and penguin if they want to stay with him and wolf, it's not because law and wolf actually need someone that can help them with their tasks, it's just because law wants to offer them a safe place to stay, but he's not in touch with his emotions enough to admit it. when he recruits them, he even calls them his subordinates explicitly, but it's clearly just a part of his façade; again, he's not ready to admit he cares about them yet. sure enough, by the end of the first novel, he refers to them as his friends, and has matured enough to admit he loves them and realize that he can count on them. also, the fact law often seems to separate from his crew before he gets into any dangerous situation is kind of relevant to this conversation: he prefers to go solo or to form a temporary alliance with other pirate crews because he doesn't want to put his crew in danger, not because he thinks they aren't strong enough. he always tries to keep his crew safe no matter what, because they're more than allies to him, they're his friends, his family, and the only people he has left. this is also the reason the clash against the blackbeard pirates is so heartbreaking: law tried his best to protect his crew, because he didn't want to, once again, experience the loss of the people he loves most, but he couldn't do anything to prevent it.

i do think law finds himself drawn to other people with trauma, especially if their trauma is in any way related to their families. even though law always tries to hide his actions behind the "i acted on a whim" excuse, it's clear that his empathy gets the best of him when he has to choose whether to recruit someone for his crew. we've seen this with every crew member with a canon backstory: first it was bepo, who set sail to try and find his brother and found himself stranded and alone; then it was penguin and shachi, who lost their families and ended up being used and abused by the adults that should have protected them; and now, in the newest chapter, it's hakugan, who lost his parents and has to bear the responsibility of raising his little sister alone. all of them are scarred and survived multiple traumatic events. law sees his reflection in his crewmates, when he looks into their eyes he can see the little boy he once was, scared, alone and devoid of purpose. that's why he's so determined to help them, and offers them a place in his crew with no hesitation: he wants to be to them what cora was to him, even though he probably doesn't realize it.

thank you so much for your question, anon!

sanuso