Cooknumber3

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Due to the earthquakes in Venezuela my mom's workplace is damaged enough that everything must stop until further notice and her employment is in limbo. Any help is greatly appreciated to keep things afloat at home and assisting us in supplying the nearby shelter 🙏💙

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You can also support me by joining my Patreon or Ko-fi tiers! Member rewards include your own doodle every month, current WIPs, practice sketches and new art early 💙

✨ COMMISSIONS OPEN ✨

Due to the earthquakes in Venezuela my mom's workplace is damaged enough that everything must stop until further notice and her employment is in limbo. Any help is greatly appreciated to keep things afloat at home and assisting us in supplying the nearby shelter 🙏💙

Visit my Ko-fi or my Carrd to see previous commissions, examples and more detailed info.

You can also support me by joining my Patreon or Ko-fi tiers! Member rewards include your own doodle every month, current WIPs, practice sketches and new art early 💙

The Sea of Stars is a wide place, full of endless potential. Ships crisscross the expanse of the galaxy, and in the midst of it all is the Empire, the rebels who chew at her boundaries, and the people stuck in the middle.

When Luffy and his crew stumble across a box full of mysterious writing, they can't imagine the can of worms they're about to open by taking it with them. Unbeknownst to them, the powers that be will stop at nothing to keep the information contained on those tablets out of the hands of the people, and defying them is a certain death sentence. The only question is, will they be able to follow where the information leads before the government succeeds?

✨ COMMISSIONS OPEN ✨

Due to the earthquakes in Venezuela my mom's workplace is damaged enough that everything must stop until further notice and her employment is in limbo. Any help is greatly appreciated to keep things afloat at home and assisting us in supplying the nearby shelter 🙏💙

Visit my Ko-fi or my Carrd to see previous commissions, examples and more detailed info.

You can also support me by joining my Patreon or Ko-fi tiers! Member rewards include your own doodle every month, current WIPs, practice sketches and new art early 💙

You see what that means? Law wasn't meant to be living outside.

Not in a normal life where he grows up and pursues his desired profession. Not as a boy from Flevance, a country completely trapped within its borders. Not as a genocide victim, the only way he could cross the borders is hiding under deadbodies.

But guess what's Law's current hobby? Traveling.

It's everything against what his life and existence was supposed to be about. The freedom he found isn't just to live as he wants but also to be wherever he wants - a secret third option, and he enjoys it a lot.

Which could just be satirical (that carrot bit came out of nowhere lol) but I posted a pretty long "here's what do I find likeable about this guy" type of response bc I too wonder sometimes.

The edge Law's character has over most One Piece character imo, isn't his depth but the vibe. I think this is closer to the real reason I find him likeable.

Luffy’s a given here. All of the Straw Hats are, really. The entire crew is fantastically devoted to each other and their dreams. Multiple times one of them has been willing to sacrifice a lot to protect the rest of the crew from whatever adversary has reared its ugly head. They’ve fought governments and Emperors over it, and Luffy will never accept a world in which his crew or anyone else he cares about is allowed to hurt.

But let’s look at the two other boys out here beating an Emperor:

Law literally sent his crew away rather than risk them getting hurt in his crusade against Doflamingo. He was absolutely incensed at the suggestion Bepo, Shachi and Penguin could have ever betrayed them, and then willingly offered himself up to Hawkins' torture to rescue them when the only other suggestion was to kill them. He was also just straight-up willing to die if that ended up being the price for dragging Luffy into the fight on Dressrosa.

Kid is pretty consistently depicted as an angry, murderous bastard, but from day one in Sabaody it was clear that even he has his lines in the sand. We’ve spent less time with him than Law or Luffy, but he’s received some lovely, if subtle characterization in Wano, and part of that was showing how incredibly protective he is of Killer. For Kid, it’s clear that if you hurt someone he cares about, the price is to be paid in blood.

And let’s actually single out Zoro and Killer here too: Zoro, of course, has his famous “nothing happened” moment–among several other examples of protectiveness throughout the series–and, though the exact details are a bit hazy, Killer willingly ate a SMILE fruit for the chance to save his captain and crew.

(You can also look at Bege for this tendency. He’s definitely not the nicest guy, but this man loves his family and his crew and literally uses his body to protect them. And even if his plans against Big Mom failed, I don’t think she’s forgetting his attempt any time soon).

I think it’s also interesting to note that Hawkins and Apoo, who have both received beatdowns to a degree in Wano, are the captain who literally uses his subordinates as sacrifices, and the one whose entire modus operandi seems to be “betray your current allies as soon as that status becomes mildly inconvenient,” respectively. The narrative has explicitly made them pay for these tendencies: Hawkins tried to take Law’s crew and Killer’s captain hostage and both times ended up at the wrong end of a furious man with a sharp blade, and Apoo will probably survive Onigashima like the cockroach that he is, but he was betrayed by Queen in a wonderful example of karma, and got smacked around a bit by both Zoro and Kid.

The jury is out on the rest of the Worst Generation, just because we haven’t seen much of them. Drake could be an interesting case–he definitely had to be willing to do some terrible things while undercover, and we don’t know if his crew are actually pirates or if he dragged a bunch of marines out with him to play pirate with him. But I think we need more information on him before the jury can rule for or against him, and as he’s not really a pirate, he might not count towards this theme anyway.

But I think it’s a really interesting bit of flavor to add to the ongoing theme of a new generation being ascendant–a theme that’s been in the background since the parallel speeches from Whitebeard and Law we got that alluded to the ending of an era and the start of a new one at Marineford and Punk Hazard. Except the further we’ve gotten into the New World, the more and more that theme has been moving into prominence, to the point that Wano is practically shouting it from the rooftops.

And these tendencies stand in stark contrast to how Kaido and especially Big Mom have been portrayed. These are people who have held on to their empires by sacrificing and subjugating the people they should have protected, and now they're facing off against opponents who have all demonstrated that, even if it is not the crux of why they are fighting the Emperors--because let's be real, Kid has no reason to actually care about the people of Wano--they choose to allow themselves to care. Messily and selfishly and not universally, sure: but they care.

Now, none of the people I’ve mentioned are saints; they’re pirates, not heroes. But they’re pirates that given the choice between someone they care for hurting and material benefits to themselves will pick their people every damn time. 

And those are the people who have started upsetting the foundations of how the world has worked thus far.

Gonna be a long one, you can scroll down to TLDR below.

Many of us know that the spelling of Water in Law's name isn't the actual katakana spelling of the liquid water, ウォーター (Wo-ta-), which follows the classic British pronunciation. Instead, it's a new word ワーテル (Wa-teru), which combining with "Law" (written as "Ro, ロー" in Japanese) makes the correct Japanese spelling for "Waterloo (ワーテルロー)".

Big Mom's hat is named "Napoleon", the irony.

For the sake of separation from water, let's call it "Watel" for now.

It may not be that deep. "Waterloo" could be a simple pun Oda came up with on a whim, but the scene leaves a bit of mystery. Law was abruptly cut off while talking with Baby 5 and Buffalo. And the pun only works in Law's name; it wouldn't work on, say, his sister Lami's name.

Also, for Law to uncover the mystery of his checkered fate, it'd make sense that his character arc is leading to finding the history of his own bloodline.

Trafalgar family happens to be the only family of Ds with an extra hidden name so there's something going on. Unfortunately, Law is the only surviving member of Trafalgar family and he knows nothing about it. Now it's up to him to restore his family's lost knowledge.

Law says "Watel" is 忌み名, a "secret name."

The word 忌み名 (imina) is an uncommon word, Japanese readers needed to do some dictionary digging too. "Imi" (忌み) means abstinence, taboo, religious purification; "na" 名 means name. Imina can be defined as a pure name, or a taboo name.

There's an old Japanese article speculating about Law's name, here's a passage from it:

The term "忌み名" encompasses meanings such as "given name for a person of high status," "title bestowed based on achievements during one's lifetime," and "name used for the deceased person." If Watel is a "忌み名" meaning a "given name for a person of high status," it might trace back to Law's ancestors, possibly connecting to nobility. Therefore, online discussions include speculations like "Were Law's ancestors individuals of considerable status?" or "Could they have been part of the royalty?"

To clarify what it meant with "the name given to a deceased person", I've read some articles about "imina", so let me share what I understood. It's an additional knowledge unrelated to Law's name, I'll explain why afterwards.

Names are often believed to be linked to spirituality, like how you can't exorcise a devil without its name, or use voodoo dolls on a person without knowing their name. In old Japan and China, sometimes two names were given to a person. One is the name that is shared with everyone, other is their taboo name 忌み名 'imina' - that is kept hidden within the family. This name relates to the person's spirituality.

忌み also means pure. As spirit world is linked to deities and gods, and dead body is considered impure. A person would be called in their imina or pure name when the person dies and become a spirit. It was forbidden to call a person using their imina during their lifetime, and to refer to them in their human world name after their death.

The parents gave their children a good 'imina' for their better future. A child with 'imina' has a connection with their spirituality, and by knowing that name, they were believed to have some control over their future.

According to this classic definition, a living person is never called in their imina which is their spirit's name, and it wouldn't be tucked into their real name. For Law to have an 'imina', rather than as his spiritual name, it is implied that his family carried Watel as a secret title that become part of a name over the generations.

From the theories I've read about Law's name, here's a common ground most of them agreed on:

D is a name shared among many people from The Ancient Kingdom, whereas the name Watel specifies a title given to a specific bloodline, for a yet unknown reason.

The theory that D's aren't a single bloodline became more apparent over time, it's now believed to be a codename that was passed down regardless of their ethnicity and family history (ie. Queen Lily who didn't belong to ancient kingdom) - only thing common among them is that they're the enemies of "gods", aka Celestial Dragons.

So who were the Watel? Throwing in my personal theory....

I think Trafalgar family didn't belong to the Ancient Kingdom. Rather, they were affiliates of the Neferteri Family that took the name "D".

There are some similarities between Trafalgar and Neferteri families.

Both of these families are the only D's that kept their names hidden, implying that their ancestors could retain some knowledge of the void century (unlike other Ds who seem to know nothing of D's significance, which means the truth of their bloodline was completely suppressed from being passed down). How could these two families survive the complete purge of knowledge? By never belonging to the ancient kingdom.

Both Neferteri and Trafalgar families are loosely attached to the classic "D" characteristics, to the point you can't immediately associate them to being D's. Rather than bringing a wave of change themselves, they're particularly interested about learning the history. Notably Cobra and Law.

Here's the headcanon territory.

The two families probably had connections in the past through two people: Queen Neferteri Lily and a Trafalgar who we don't know yet.

How were they connected? Couldn't be marriage, as the family names weren't exchanged.

Doctor and Patient, perhaps?

Watel was a title given to the Trafalgar by Queen Lily. That's where the 'title connected to royalty' of imina comes from.

The word Watel (ワーテル) doesn't have a meaning per se, but I can push it a little in meta direction.

The more convincing theory is that it's a wordplay, Watel = War Tale (in japanese it only needs a space in the middle of the word) similar to Raftel = Laugh tale. Probably a title given for the heroic activities of Trafalgars during the war between the Celestials and the Ancient Kingdom.

A less convincing theory is that Watel's close alternative "Water" goes in combination with "Lily" to form Water Lily. We know that Arabasta is based on Egypt, and Water Lily in Egyptian culture has a great significance and connection to sun. Maybe the Queen's gesture of respect was to give a title that would combine with her name.

Reminder that Law's name also has a 'combination pun', Waterloo.

This is the only ancient doctor that has been mentioned in One Piece. Possibly the same doctor - that'd tie up most loose thread together. Too convenient? hasn't stopped Oda until now, has it?

Doctor Trafalgar possessed the power of ope ope no mi and performed many miracle operations, Queen Lily hired them for their skill and talent, giving them a royal title. Both Lily and the doctor took the codename "D" to support the people from Ancient Kingdom who were rebelling against Imu and the Celestials.

Doctor Trafalgar discovered the fruit's potential of performing a perennial youth surgery, an information that was intercepted by Nerona Imu. The doctor was kidnapped and forced to perform the surgery on him, the process taking thier life.

Alternative could be that Watel was the given name of the doctor and Trafalgar family simply carry it as a tribute to them, remembering their connection to a royal family and an inevitable sacrifice.

The fruit returning to the same family, to another Trafalgar who has yet to confront Imu as a D to find the history of their family - would truly affirm that Law's life is "checkered." It'd be poetic for Law to play a key role in Imu's downfall. lHopefully without putting his own life at risk.

Rosinante believed Law is kept alive as if by a divine force. He must have a role to play.

TL;DR

- Law's secret family name Watel is an 'imina', in his own words, which signifies that it's a secret title passed down by his ancestors.

- Similar to Neferteri Family, Trafalgar Family are D's who didn't belong to the ancient kingdom and thus survived the purge of knowledge, able to withhold some knowledge and keep the D in their names hidden over generations.

-The ancestors of both of these families took the codename 'D' like people from ancient kingdom to support their action against Imu, even though they didn't belong to the ancient kingdom themselves.

-Watel was either the royal title or the given name of a Trafalgar who worked under/with Neferteri Lili, and was likely a doctor who possessed and discovered the immortality operation of Ope Ope no mi.

-The said doctor was forced to grant perpetual youth to Imu, dying in the process. Trafalgar family carry 'Watel' in their names as a tribute to the fallen ancestor.

from Law (about needing to take down monsters to learn about history), taking it as proof that he's somehow not fighting for freedom or that

freedom of expression is not something important that has been sanctified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (Article 19)

But that it is instead some nerdish pastime that no other character in One Piece or the real world is invested in (WG or otherwise) for obvious reasons of power, politics and freedom/repression.

But there are governments and organisations that regularly suppress this kind of expression (in One Piece and the real world--no surprise):

There are governments and organisations that fear the pursuit of knowledge:

Partial SBS: Volume 86: Pedro led the Nox expedition party who were chased by the government for searching for poneglyphs, thus they became the Nox Pirates. That's a story from about 15 years ago.

And there are governments and organisations that penalise people by taking their lives

for seeking out knowledge. 👆👇

From Clover,

to Nico Olvia,

to Rayleigh,

to

(Egghead Arc spoilers under the cut)

Gonna write a longer review post but before that, what a great time to remember that the image flower Oda chose for Law is Queen of the Night. In Japanese the name is 月下美人, literally reads "A beautiful lady under the moonlight."

He prefers abstract arts over realism. Unlike Kid who forms animal or skull figures with metals, Law creates strange 'sculptures' with his victim's bodies/belongings:

And, of course, the tattoos.

I like how all of his tattoos accentuate the shapes of his torso and arms, especially the joints and muscles. Combined they look like a single stylized drawing of human upper torso.

Seen theories that the tribal style could be a lost trend from Flevance (as seen on the arm of a miner in his flashback), but it could just be his personal style. That said, his upper arm's heart tattoos look similar.

(Something that artists probably noticed long ago but I'm only noticing recently: Law's upper arm's tattoos have been simplified over time. There used to be two spiral-like protrusions, but Oda has been omitting them in later arts)

The "DEATH" tattoos have a straightforward message. According to the Law novel, these were his first tattoos.

Speaking of death, ghosts and spirituality have been implicitly a theme for Law, especially during Dressrosa. Doflamingo referred to Law as Cora's 'vengeful ghost'. Law's (cursed) sword Kikoku's name means 'wailings of a restless ghost". Ironically, Law having a hidden name was also a tradition that related to dead people.

The orange jolly roger (red in the sail) could be many things, I think it's a stylized way of drawing the sun.

Sun symbols are everywhere in the One Piece world. Law's lower arm tattoos are different types of 'suns'. Law might've subconsciously carried those symbols from his hometown for their aesthetic appeal.

The tattoos on the back of his hands reminded me of the church lady's cross, which is slightly different from the cross seen at Kuma's church. It's possible that various faiths in One Piece world are interconnected, leading to a prophecy about the sun god and Dawn. Law, at the very least, believes in the will of D and his own fate being tied to a purpose.

The chest tattoo, clearly a tribute to Corazon, could have some elements of catholicism. Kikoku also has crosses all over its sheath. Originally this wasn't my observation, but Law seeing Cora as a sacred being makes a lot of sense.

Carving a heart at the dead center of his chest by creating small wounds - the process itself reminds of Cora doesn't it

The custom-made Dressrosa coat is another tribute to Corazon, but IMHO he designed it specifically for Doflamingo, as a mockery.

A cross and circle like dangling a pistol target for Doflamingo's shooting practice, with a grinning face copied from Doflamingo's own jolly roger, but it's Corazon. Like his brother has returned to face his pistol again. A vengeful ghost indeed

And boy did it work...

Doflamingo shot it until the mark was completely drenched and unrecognizable.

Assuming he draws for all of his clothes himself, here's this masterpiece:

Or maybe it's gifted by his crew mates. Either way, it's adorable.

Since he's a surgeon (and a comic nerd), he should be skilled at drawing human anatomy. How does he draw realistic arts? Does he doodle while taking notes?

So like, why do we root for Luffy following his dream to be Pirate King, but not Teach?

What about hating Crocodile who wanted to create an ideal society free of the WG but not the RA who want something similar for whole the world?

Big Mom who wants to create a place where all sentient are equal and get along versus Koala and/or Otohime who dream of that same thing for humans and fishmen?

I mean the obvious answer is that protagonists and their allies tend to be likeable - they are usually drawn prettier, have less kick the dog moments, and we get more time with them as an audience. They have to be on some level, or no one would read the manga.

But from an in-story perspective, I think its a an under looked facet of Luffy's character, for him chasing his dream is more important than obtaining it. It's why he turns down Rayleigh straight up offering to tell him where Laugh Tale is, and what is on it. What is important to Luffy isn't so much becoming Pirate King, it is being free, having fun, sailing with his friends on the journey to be Pirate King.

It's why he helps Vivi in Alabasta, Cricket in Skypiea, Shirahoshi in Fishmen Island, and the Wano crew in uhh Wano (the journey wouldn't be fun if he'd abandoned his friends to do it)

It's why he takes dangerous detours to places like Little Garden or Sky Island or Punk Hazard(the journey wouldn't be fun if he didn't get to explore)

It's why he risks his life against Arlong for Nami and declares the entire world his enemy for Robin and literally threatens to starve to death to get Sanji back ( the journey wouldn't be fun if he can't do it with his crew by his side)

All of this is why, Luffy isn't afraid of dying either. He can die at any point on his journey to being Pirate King, and feel no regret because the journey itself was the important part.

Compare this to two other D.'s Law and Blackbeard.

Law's also relentlessly pursuing his dream when we meet him (stop Doflamingo to avenge Cora), and he is miserable.

Law in trying to achieve his dream whatever the cost keeps putting himself in situations he hates.

He leaves his beloved crew behind because the mission is basically a suicide run. He cozies up to the Government he hates and hands his heart over to a morally bankrupt mad scientist he's obviously disgusted by. He plans to get Doflamingo in trouble with Kaido, which mean 1) he likely won't get to punch out Mingo himself, 2) there is a high probability of civilians getting caught in the crossfire/dying horribly.

This journey sucks. If Law had died during any point of this he would have been the world's most pissed off ghost.

It's Luffy and the Strawhats busting in and transforming that journey that puts Law on the path to success with his dream and with not being so goddamn miserable.

Like screw Caesar, let;s have Luffy kick his ass and then you fix the children he was experimenting on. Screw playing nice with the government, do what you want and call us your allies instead. Screw Doflamingo, you and Luffy go beat him up and the rest of us will pull his government/crime family down around his ears.

And it works! Law's grumpy and annoyed and cursing Luffy out, but he tells Mingo he believes Luffy can pull out a miracle and looks more at peace watching Doflamingo and Luffy brawl - knowing that he'll die or succeed with his ally/friend - than he ever did with his fool-proof plan.

The journey before destination thing is also why Blackbeard feels like a special type of evil in OP despite there being technically worse/more evil villains, because Blackbeard always prioritizes his dream over how he gets it.

He'll stay in the shadows for 20 years to increase his chances of success (wouldn't it have been more fun to be a captain like he obviously wants?)

He'll kill his crewmate, turn his commander in for a reward, then kill his captain (wouldn't it have been more fun to stay friends, he never indicates he hates/dislikes them?)

He invites strong people - and strong seems to be the only criteria - to join his crew, though tbh their personalities often suck. I don't recall any panel of his crew just hanging out or joking around which even Baroque Works, Buggy's crew, and Kaido's Beast Pirates get (wouldn't it have been more fun to recruit people he can befriend, not just people he can use)