it's loving luffy hours

nami meets luffy and i believe that she believes in him from day 1, believes in his conviction and believes that he'll do everything it takes to become the king of the pirates. but it's one thing to believe and it's another thing to see and live it.

when nami asks luffy to save her, she is at the lowest point in her life: she's spent years trying desperately to survive and save everyone, and then her one saving grace gets stolen from her just when she's close enough to imagine her freedom. so now she's desperate and grieving, she's had all of her hopes crushed after years of building them up secretly and her situation feels hopeless in a way that only a miracle can help.

to nami, luffy saving her and her village from arlong is that miracle.

you see it in the way she interacts with people from that point onwards: the most notable example is probably vivi, whose own situation parallels nami's in many ways. vivi's desperation, grief, urgency and hopelessness are all very similar to what nami feels during arlong park, and when nami goes to comfort her, she tells her that luffy will save her and will save alabasta. and she says it with such conviction, not because he's strong and powerful and stubborn and will fight until he wins (i mean, she believes that), but she says it like it's a fact of nature, like it's a given, because she knows. because luffy saved her first and if he could save her from her hopeless situation, then he can save vivi and alabasta.

you see it in wholecake island. i think that's part of why she's the one to witness the luffy-sanji fight. she knows how desperate sanji feels, she's been there! but luffy saved her then and he'll save sanji too.

it's why she can't and won't lie to ulti in wano about him becoming king of the pirates

Brook and jinbei join the cuddle pile !! <33

It reminds me of this older colorspread which was also underwater:

a sort of post timeskip redesign... i like his new outfit for someone else, but it doesn't feel zoro ish to me, it feels like a wano character with nothing else to it.

SO i did a jacket with a similar cut, but shorter and with pants that feel more on brand. and i couldn't not do the iconic boots......

maybe i'm too nostalgic to do redesigns...

i also thought the scar should be bigger. it's barely even there. let's feel that something happened! (no pun intended)

also more scars in general. (none on the back ofc)

I feel like the choice he made to go through the training he did (treading carefully here) would hit more with the bit of visual storytelling that a bunch of new scars would be. you know?

a collector's item basically

On Arlong Park, he noticed that something was off with Nami when Arlong was describing as a cold hearted person:

He was right in doubting Arlong's characterisation of Nami, and he even risked to drown himself to prove her innocence. He wouldn't do that if didn't read Nami's expression right in the first place. So, let's give him some credit when it comes to reading others.

He's also the first Straw Hat who observed Nami's discomfort when Arlong was mentioned on Fish Man Island arc:

When Nami and co. were reunited with the straw hats on Zou arc, he realised something was off before Nami told them about Sanji:

And speaking of Sanji, on Wano arc he was able to sense that something was off with his nakama:

Vivi in a peacock dress 🦚