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.
I've had this little idea in my head for a while now, so I decided to sit down and plot it out.
Disclaimer: This isn't meant to be some sort of One-Worksheet-Fits-All situation. This is meant to be a visual representation of some type of story planning you could be doing in order to develop a plot!
Lay down groundwork! (Backstory integral to the beginning of your story.) Build hinges. (Events that hinge on other events and fall down like dominoes) Suspend structures. (Withhold just enough information to make the reader curious, and keep them guessing.)
And hey, is this helps... maybe sit down and write a story! :)
this really is such a minor thing but I genuinely cannot believe that people are still choosing to buy starbucks... its not even good coffee, ignoring all of the serious and actual issues with the company and the many many reasons people are boycotting it, its bad coffee, go to a cafe and get real good shit?? you get the bonus of not being lame for supporting starbucks?? 0 downsides
i think something you have to realise is that there are people who exist alongside you and me, who are so devoid of an identity that they make consumerism into their entire personality. they're the kind of people who line up to buy stanley cups, who will throw out and replace entire wardrobes just to keep up with fashion trends. they'll fight for nothing but their right to remain in their comfortable little consumerist bubbles, and co-opt anti-ableist language to shame you for ever thinking of pointing it out. starbucks is, by a lot of people's measurements, very average coffee. but they've cultivated a global brand identity that people enjoy and that's really the trap.
You are really goddamn annoying
who cares, get into this face card though. 💋
sometimes i want to reach through the screen and shake sabo by the shoulders because. god. there's just so much going on with him.
he's first introduced through the veil of luffy's memories- here he's just another feral jungle kid, sticking it out with ace and luffy, the 'nicer' brother in young luffy's eyes. and then boom. you find out he's a runaway noble trying to escape his abusive, neglectful family- and this changes nothing. they get to become sworn brothers, but just as quickly as this is resolved, his asshole of a dad takes the three of them hostage. and what does sabo do? he gives up the little sliver of freedom he'd fought for, is willing to become miserable and lonely again if it means ace and luffy are spared. and then he comes home to find that in his absence, his parents have already found a replacement! great!
and he doesn't even get to address how fucked up that is, because stelly runs his mouth and now sabo's too busy trying to figure out how to stop his brothers and their home from getting burnt to the ground. he never gets to give them a proper goodbye- he exhausts himself trying to reach them, but he can't because. you know. he's ten. so where does this leave sabo? ten years old, with nowhere to go- he sets out to sea to try and start over, and for the crime of wanting to escape a terrible life, he's punished with an explosion to the face. he loses his memories, his brothers lose him- and so the cycle continues.
then the army saves him, takes him in; he's essentially a child soldier, with how prodigious of a fighter he is from the get-go. but hey, he thinks he's finally found his footing, even if his past's a blur to him- then it all comes flooding back. in the worst way possible. he sees his brother's corpse and he remembers, but it doesn't matter, does it? he's too late, ace is gone, and sabo's lost ten years of a life he could have shared with his brothers. we don't even know how (if, even) he recovers from this- except for a single passing statement from koala, asking him if he's 'had that dream again' because he'd been crying in his sleep. this is never brought up or addressed again. great!plus, we never do find out if getting blown up at the ripe old age of ten could have left any lasting fire-related trauma; and if it does, what does that mean for sabo, who's pretty much made of it, now?
both of these questions are answered at once- sabo treats the fire as if it's ace. it's ace's legacy he's carrying on, and it's ace he seeks freedom for. he copes by making sure ace lives on in his flames, and how can he ever hate the fire living in him if that fire is all he has left of the brother he never got to see again?
i just have to wonder about him, because he's got so many Issues that just. don't ever get addressed? every time we see him deal with his grief (episode of sabo, his own retelling of events in dressrosa) we never really discover anything about him. i wonder how it felt to finally remember the childhood that eluded him, just to find out he was an unwanted, replacable child. how he feels, living with the knowledge that he could have done something to save ace, that he'd failed to remember the two people he loved the most? i wonder just how terribly that guilt must weigh down on him- because where luffy's already begun to heal, sabo still sees ace in everything he does. his title of flame emperor is a direct callback to ace's final attack in his fight against blackbeard. he talks to his goddamn fire like his brother is still in front of him, which is sweet and heartbreaking and, considering his backlog of unaddressed trauma... incredibly unhealthy. i know these will probably be left unresolved for the sake of moving the story forward- but god, sabo, are you okay?
you see how i don’t throw a fit when someone writes a fic i’m not interested in reading? very mindful, very considerate, very demure. i’m not like you other girls who go on anon to tell writers you don’t like what they’ve chosen to write about. i simply do not read it and move on. very thoughtful. very cutesy.
I just read that Donald Trump and his circus took down a website called reproductiverights.gov
This was a website to help women learn about their reproductive rights in the US and to find health care.
This is absolutely disgusting so I’ll share in this post some resources in case you need them:
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn
some facts for western christians this holiday season:
jesus’ birthplace is under military occupation
bethlehem is surrounded by military checkpoints, an apartheid wall, and over 20 segregated illegal settlements built on stolen land - all designed to keep palestinians (including palestinian christians) under the thumb of oppression
palestinian christians are not allowed to move without restrictions, meaning that many have never and will never see their own holy sites in jerusalem. jerusalem is less than 30 minutes away.
they are often harassed, beaten, or even killed on holidays like christmas and easter.
palestinian christians are forced out of their homes as israel continues to build apartheid walls and illegal settlements
churches have been deliberately targeted in airstrikes, arson attacks, and settler violence
nuns and other clergy have been targeted in violent attacks
indigenous christians of the holy land have begged for help from christian communities abroad, fearing for their lives and even a possible extinction, according to christian religious leaders there
and finally, a message from the archbishop of jerusalem:
By Antony Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory (2023)
[...] The problem in Israel isn’t solely Netanyahu. He’s the symptom of a major larger societal shift. Replacing him with another carbon copy will change little for the millions of Palestinians who live under a brutal military occupation. One possible successor, Benny Gantz, has spent his career proudly promoting the destruction he’s caused in Gaza in previous wars. [...] Back in 2019, I wrote for the Jewish Forward outlet in the US that anti-Palestinian racism was ubiquitous in Israel, undeniably exploding since 7 October, and Netanyahu had simply been a reflection of contemporary Israel. A 2016 poll found that close to half of Jewish citizens wouldn’t live in the same apartment blocks as Arabs. Fast forward to early 2024 and 68 percent of Israeli Jews opposed facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to an Israeli Democracy Institute study. This is at a time when Palestinians in Gaza are starving to death due to Israel’s deliberate policy of withholding lifesaving aid into the besieged territory. As far back as a 2012 poll, a majority of Israeli Jews opposed voting rights for Arabs if the Jewish state annexed the West Bank, and one-third of Israelis wanted Arabs in Israel to be denied the right to vote. In other words, apartheid was the Israeli vision for Palestine.
. . . continues on MEE (1 Apr, 2024)
I accidentally promoted a scammer who copied and pasted Yasmeen's story. THIS is her actual gofundme, please donate to help her get her family to Canada safe if you can!!! And please, like, share, and reblog this post also!!
Had to unfollow this one person on here cause they just would not stop making posts about how transfems on e getting periods is just made up symptoms and like, I don't have definitive proof I only have my and others experience but like how do you, as someone who is not on e, who has access to the same amount of studies looking into this with decent sample sizes as I do (none), feel so confident to say it's all just placebo and made up ? What makes you so confident ? Cause I gotta say after almost two years of nearly right on the dot once a month suddenly feeling nausea all week, taking the most unbelievable shits, feeling all my organs cramp, and having mood swings out the ass which always just so happens to line up with when the two people with uteruses in my house also get their periods, I feel like I have more data to work off of than you do
224 posts