In return for all the sins and crimes of men, the gods created me with glistening long black hair and pale, inviting skin.
- Yosano Akiko, River of Stars: Selected Poems of Yosano Akiko
With teary eyes, she turns to me for sympathy, but all I can see reflected on the water is a lonely harvest moon.
- Yosano Akiko, River of Stars: Selected Poems of Yosano Akiko
Even at nineteen, I had come to realize that violets fade, spring waters soon run dry, this life too is transient.
- Yosano Akiko, River of Stars: Selected Poems of Yosano Akiko
(this translation may be incorrect, so if you read this remember to check the official translation! This post only has the pages with dialogue, also, read from left to right)
Dazai: Think about it. It's what people do to remember the past.
Atsushi: H-here is... the agency?!
Dazai: Physical distance doesn't matter in the fourth dimension.
Dazai: To get from point A to point B on this sheet in the quickest way... what should be done?
Atsushi: ? Go in a straight line, of course...
Dazai: Normally, but we are in a higher dimension.
Dazai: Just do it like this.
Dazai: It is possible to intercept all the places here... and attack the origin point, which is ame-no-gozen.
Atsushi: Will you do the same with me?
Dazai: If you understood, let's fly.
Dazai: Focus.
Atsushi: Dazai-san! You...!
Dazai: Just look...
Past Dazai: I want to recruit you for the Port Mafia
Akutagawa: Jinko...
Akutagawa: Why did... you protect me?
Dazai: I want to recruit you for the Port Mafia
Akutagawa: Why am I... remembering this now?
Akutagawa: I just... hated... this world that let my street friends die for nothing.
Akutagawa: I wanted revenge... for being born into this world.
Dazai: If you're ready... I'll give you what you want.
Akutagawa: What I want? Are you... able to give me a meaning to live?
Dazai: I am.
Atsushi: Akutagawa...
Dazai: It's taking too long to activate your ability! You won't survive like this in the organization!
Akutagawa: I didn't feel any pain. Dazai-san was the one who gave me a meaning to live. But...
Akutagawa: ...He disappeared without any explanation
Akutagawa: And when we met again, he had a new subordinate.
Dazai: "My new subordinate is much better than you"
Akutagawa: Jinko! Jinko! Jinko! Jinko!
Akutagawa: Feeling humiliated and resentful… I feared I would never be accepted. This motivated my heart. And I bet everything on the tiger's execution.
Akutagawa: And then.. then...
Akutagawa: Fool... go now
Dazai: We arrived.
Dazai: The true body of the god is beyond this door.
Atsushi: Where are we?
Atsushi: It's big. And it's completely sealed…
Atsushi: It doesn't work, it's too heavy. It doesn't even move.
Orphanage director: You stupid brat. No one will save you.
Orphanage director: You don't deserve to live.
Dazai: I can only get you this far.
Atsushi: Thank you. I couldn't have gotten this far alone.
Dazai: I was the one who called you to the agency. Who brought you into a dangerous world. It's the least I can do.
Atsushi: No. You are not Dazai-san.
Atsushi: Because of the nullification ability… he couldn't become an illusion and talk to me. And you sometimes… didn't behave like Dazai-san.
Atsushi: You thought I wouldn't listen to you… if it wasn't in this form, didn't you?
Atsushi: You're right…
Atsushi: Director. When your illusion disappeared… I started seeing Dazai-san. Then…
Director: It was… the only way.
Director: I don't have… the right to talk to you. That's why…
Atsushi: You are just a shadow… created as a consequence of Q's ability.
Director: Yes. The real me is already dead. But…
Atsushi: Enough. I don't want to talk to you.
Atsushi: It's no use. It's not moving at all. But… if I don't defeat the god behind this door, everyone will…
Absolutely adore how two chapters after we learn Elbaf is a blood purist society and one of a Celestial Dragon deriding the 'lower world' for its filthiness, Scopper's first moment of page time has him explicitly saying "fuck you actually, the world is a big, beautiful place. Love who you want and enjoy the amazing people and experiences that come from mixing cultures who by the way will always find ways to thrive in spite of the hardships they face".
All this talk about love makes me sure this guy is going to fight Sanji
To me, what is so fantastic about One Piece Fan Letter is the emphasis on the way the Straw Hats have created these connections in the lives of people they have never met. The ending scene, with all the hands putting together the puzzle pieces, and the way that all these connections came together in one dazzling way-- I loved that. I teared up at that. Wherever the Straw Hats go, they leave behind all of these puzzle pieces for people to put together and create bonds that would not have existed had the Straw Hats not shown up!
And it also just... Makes me so in love with the concept of the world after Luffy becomes King of The Pirates. I know that Oda has the final chapter planned in his head, and I doubt we will really see the long lasting effects of Luffy achieving the title of Pirate King + his dream, and I really do not want a sequel series ala Boruto or Yasahime, but.... I want to see a world in which children believe they can become a Brave Warrior of the Sea thanks to Usopp, I want to see more children look at Nami and realize they don't NEED to have a Devil Fruit or Haki or muscles to have adventures. I want to see the next generation of the One Piece world believe so strongly in their dreams, that they set out to accomplish them.
One Piece Fan Letter really opened the door, I think, for more and more stories about the "regular" people in the world of One Piece, the people you don't see in the arcs because they're the nondescript background characters, and how the Straw Hat Crew has changed them. And I want that. To me, that is fantastic.
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