I Have To Tell You Guys Something.

language (or a letter to gaza) | 11.05.2023

Luffy’s childhood; abandonment issues, parental negelect and loneliness

When we talk about the one piece character’s childhoods, it’s usually the darker sides of the series. Oda has a nack of giving most of the characters terrible childhoods and backgrounds, which usually shapes these characters.

Oda does not shy away from that with the Straw Hats either; notable members such as Sanji, Nami and Robin has been seen as one of the most saddest childhoods. Hell, all straw hat members have had a bad childhood; including Luffy.

Not many people really care/see Luffy’s childhood as a terrible one, which I quite disagree with, because, really, Luffy did have a not-so-good childhood.

We know little to nothing about his really early days, but we can assume Garp took care of him. Until Oda says something about it, we can only speculate. But we do know that Garp was a terrible parental figure, making Luffy, a child at that time, go through many dangerous situation, which might’ve been for comical reasons, but I’ll get to that later.

So already from the start Luffy didn’t have a stable life or parental figure. Enter Shanks. Shanks was like a light for Luffy, becoming his idol through and through. It is most likely that Luffy and Shanks were quite close, because of the canon fact that Shanks and the crew stationed themeselves at Foosha village for nearly a year.

And then Luffy eats a devil fruit and Shanks looses his arm. We already know that Luffy was broken from the fact that Shanks lost an arm and blamed himself. Little guy felt so guilty, which is the worst feeling in the world. Shanks leave not long after, leaving behind a child with a hat. We all know Luffy looked up to Shanks a lot, and Shanks was probably one of the first actual parental figures for Luffy. I don’t think Luffy really felt abandoned per see, but there was something, hell he was crying buckets when Shanks had to leave. Everyone hates to say goodbye to someone you love/look up to, especially if you’re a child with not a lot to lose.

And then Garp, good ‘ol grandpa, dumps him onto some stranger away from the village that Luffy most likely grew up in. Garp dumped him somewhere dangerous without any care in the world. Ace and Sabo didn’t even want to have anything to do with Luffy at the start, yet Luffy tried his hardest to befriend them, probably because of his abandoned issues and the fact that he hates being alone. Imagine you’re dumped in a new place full of strangers, bandits, and the two kids nearly your age tie you to a tree and argue which of then should k!ll you. You just didn’t want to be lonely.

And not to mention all the times Luffy was kidnapped/beaten by bandits and pirates alike. He was kidnapped and t//tured by bluejam, and he was what, 7 years old? No child deserves that.

And then he finally gets some stability again, he got big brothers now and a dream that grows every day, despite Garp trying to snuff it out like a match. And then a part of that stability is gone, Sabo died. We know it took a heavy toll on Luffy, and why wouldn’t it? Luffy loves people too hard, too scared to be alone, which makes a loss harder. We can see that it caused some drift between him and Ace for a little period, to the point Luffy got mauled by a bear because they were too used to having Sabo around and Ace trying to push Luffy to be stronger.

Luffy is terrified of loosing Ace as a result of Sabo’s death. He is terrified to be alone, probably ‘cause he most likely grew up lonely, he didn’t have anyone to care for him, at least not a long time, only temporary, something that Luffy probably was used to. He gets more worried about Ace, terrified he will be gone too like Sabo, which doesn’t help his issues at all.

The reason why many brush it off is because of the ‘comedic’ way it’s shown. Probably because it’s from Luffy’s narrative (or maybe Oda just saw it as comedic, who knows) which tunes it way down and leaves people with a more lighter impression. Which makes sense, because that is how Luffy sees the world, but it’s still saddening when you look more between the lines.

Luffy was a kid, negelected by many adults, lonely with a handful of people he loved, no stability in his life, greif and guilt-stricked from certain moments in his early life and a fear of loneliness, clinging desprately at the people he had left.

LET GAZA LIVE, FREE THEM ALL, VIVA VIVA INTIFADA

we've been watching a horrific genocide for 4 months now, and your silence in complicity. ceasefire is the bare minimum, and just the beginning.

free to use, print, repost. link to images and variants

commissions for palestine

and to all the white mutuals who blocked me & soft blocked me because of me being vocal about anti blackness in fandom spaces in the name of “clearing your dash of discourse” i hope your fics flop and your favorite character dies in whatever manga/anime you’re currently obsessing over.

By the way, fanfiction isn't the place for reviews or criticism.

When you're a published author, it's like you're preparing a meal in a food competition. You expect a rating and to be told what worked and what didn't to improve your craft and embark on your career.

When you're a fanfiction author, it's like taking some of your free time to enjoy the process of baking cookies and then offering them to someone to be kind.

If you take a cookie from the plate, you don't spit it out and tell them it sucked.

Unless the writer asks for your opinion, you can keep it to yourself.

Adding this to clarify, and you don't have to agree with this by any means, I cannot force you to, but the reason Ao3 and Fanfiction isn't the space for criticism and ratings...is that it is a fan space created by fans for fans.

It isn't school.

It is a space where people with the same interests can congregate and enjoy the same fandom.

When you think about commenting on an fanfic authors fics, don't think if it as fishing around in your pocket to give them a compliment.

Compliments are nice. Most everyone likes compliments.

"I like your character development."

"You paint wonderful imagry."

Those are comments that are compliments. Speaking for myself as a fanfic writer they're nice, but they're not what my fan heart craves.

I want engagement with my readers.

The best comments I get aren't talking about my skill as a writer, but what just happened in the story because you and I (the reader) are already fans of the world created.

Comments like:

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"Did she actually just do that?"

"EXCUSE me?!?!"

None of these comments are compliments and none are critical. They are emotionally aligned with the story. They are engaged and with this engagement we create a little community in this tiny little space we get to call ours.

I cannot stop people from saying cruel things, but I can inform those people of the "dangers" so to speak when people treat fandom spaces like Ao3 as if it's Goodreads.

Writers, who write for themselves and offer it to you out of kindness, can decide that if people are just going to spit out their cookies they don't need to post about them anymore and that is how fandom spaces die.

If you don't like the flavor of cookie they made, or you're allergic to one of its ingredients...don't eat the cookie. Put it back for someone else to enjoy and then go find the flavor you do like.

i'm seeing people losing hope for palestine i'm begging you seriously please don't. the death toll is high but there are still people alive, there are still journalists risking everything to make sure the world sees what is happening. please continue protesting if you have the option to, keep demanding for a ceasefire and keep talking about palestinians both alive and dead. you have to keep going until the very end or else you really did fail them.

Just so like... it's clear... anyone who censors words that contain "man" or "men" to anything like "xxn" that's TERF shit.

Any reference to women/womanhood that solely revolves around having a uterus or "womb" is TERF shit.

Any sentence where the OP says they support people being "trans identified" with quotes around ""transwomen"" or ""transmen"" is TERF shit.

I'm seeing a lot of you baby Tumblr gays out there not knowing what these specific TERF dogwhistles look like.

"Wombxxn" is an incredibly dumb way of spelling "woman" that treats the word "man" like a slur and also reduces women to their ability to give birth.

"Trans identified" is their way of saying "this person calls themselves trans, but I don't believe they are."

Saying "People should be allowed to identify however they wish, but we still need to protect women/children" IS TERF SHIT.

Learn to identify this garbage, because not all TERFs are going to spell out their intolerance for you. Some of them are going to try and seem reasonable and polite and normal, and it's fucking dangerous to our community.

Also unpack any internalized transphobia and your transmedicalism, because both those things will have you quickly siding with TERFs and bigots.

Usopp recolor (giving him his tan back!)

There we go, that's a man who's been out in the sun all his life!! 😍😍😍

here have an uta edit *coughs up blood*

283,000 likes………giant meteor strike the earth rn holy shit. oh my god.