Nicoite

Hi, sorry it took me so long to get to this ask!!!!! I completely forgot to respond to it… and thank you!!!!

Firstly, while their personalities change a tiny bit, it isn't really a personality swap. While Jabber definitely comes across as more chill due to Enjin and the Cleaners' influence, he still has masochistic + sadistic tendencies, and is super excitable about fights. He also has a history of using Mankira on himself, like in the actual canon, but he doesn’t do it very often around where the manga starts because of Enjin getting onto him about it. He can use toxins to numb pain on himself without getting scolded for it, but anything else he just uses infrequently + in private. When fighting actual people, he pretty much only uses his paralytic venom, since he can't get away with much else. He also uses his numbing toxins to help Eishia in the clinic!!!!! Though a lot of people find it off-putting cuz he uses Mankira for it lol

I think after losing to Zanka in the Raiders trash beast, he’d get desperate enough to start experimenting with his toxins again, such as using toxins on himself to try and enhance his physical qualities and becoming more open to using poisons on his opponents, though he keeps that stuff to himself so as not to worry anyone. His dedication to getting stronger isn't super similar to canon Zanka’s, since his comes from a place of wanting to control everything always, and finding a guy who keeps beating him and also pointing out parts of himself he doesn't want to acknowledge fucks with his head. Also, just tacking this on at the end, even tho its not super related, but I feel like Jabber doesn’t have very strong empathy, and sometimes he can feel awkward with the Cleaners because of that. Like when Gob dies, he’s just silently standing at the back of the room cuz he knows this is an emotional situation for everyone else, but he just really doesn’t feel any strong emotions abt it.

Also, I think Enjin would’ve found Jabber pretty soon after he first activated Mankira, around when he’s 12 or 13 or whatever, maybe after Jabber had just used Mankira to defend himself for the first time. While Jabber doesn’t idolize Enjin as much as canon Zanka, he definitely looks up to him a lot (partly because he looks up to strong fighters, but also because Enjin was one of the first few people to show him kindness) and is closer with him than he is with other Cleaners.

Zanka in this au leans heavily into his desire to come out on top and some sadistic tendencies. While Zanka can sometimes acknowledge the fact that he has room to grow, he is extremely competitive and gets SUPERR pissed whenever he loses, and believes everyone around him is just stepping stones for him to become the “strongest”, which is a belief that is fed into by Zodyl. The only person he puts over himself in terms of strength is Zodyl, whom he idolizes heavily as canon Zanka does with Enjin (but way worse). He likes to seek out strong opponents because he finds it more satisfying to beat them if they actually put up a good fight, which is what attracts him to Jabber. I don’t think he’s very close with any of the other Raiders, but I think he’d be fairly chill with most of them, especially Cthoni and Momoa (kind of how I imagine canon Jabber is). He does NAWT fuck with Fu though LMAO

Zanka does have a “true form” for Lovely Assistaff, as canon Jabber does with Mankira. I imagine she’d somehow be even bigger, the arc she has now on either side, and a shit ton of spikes that are hella long. Not as crazy as canon Mankira’s upgraded form, but he still beats ass with it, so IDGAF. I think Zanka in this au is a bit of a worse match-up for Jabber because he put himself through genuinely horrifying training after joining the Raiders, which did include trying to make himself more resistant to poisons. I think he’d also do weird shit where if Jabber doesn’t hit him with a high enough dose, he’s just somehow forcing his body to still move through it, and it looks all creepy. More on Zanka’s training; it started with Zodyl making him fight his opponents until they were down, no matter how strong they were or how beat up he got. He applies that in his own battles now, where, even if he is literally beaten to a pulp, he’s still getting up and throwing himself back in. He also takes his own training further by himself, like with the poison resistance training he does. This boy's body has been THROUGH it. 

In this au, Zodyl found Zanka at the bottom of the well before Enjin could. He convinced Zanka that his family and the academy were holding him back, that all the students (including Hyo) were just his “stepping stones” to becoming the strongest among them. He tried to nudge Zanka in the direction of turning Lovely into a vital instrument, since he believed Zanka had the potential to be useful to him, and it ended up working, and Zanka came along with him to become a Raider. Because of the fact that he credits Zodyl with getting him away from his family and pulling him out of that dark time in his life, he heavily idolizes Zodyl and genuinely believes he can do no wrong, which makes him do literally anything Zodyl asks without question. He also gets pissed if anyone goes against what Zodyl says, and gladly will take out people who he thinks betrayed Zodyl without being directed to by the man himself.

I don’t think their first meeting would be all too different from canon. Jabber takes out those two other Raiders, and then Zanka jumps him, knocking him out before going to get Rudo. Even though Zanka doesn’t have the advantage canon Jabber has of using paralytic venom, he’s able to knock him out pretty quickly in that moment due to catching him off-guard and also knowing what points of the body are best for taking someone out with one or so hits. Same stuff happens, Gris gets fucked up, and Rudo uses his talisman. Zanka would figure out how to game it as Jabber does, but since he doesn’t have Jabber’s toxins, I think he’d just use Lovely like a bat to throw rubble at Rudo and also throw Lovely around a little bit too (he profusely apologizes to her later). Jabber comes in, same plan as in canon, though it’d probably end faster since Jabber only really needs one good hit. Blah blah blah, dose isn’t strong enough, and Zanka has an insane tolerance, then he knocks out Jabber and runs off with Rudo. Basically, just the same, with minor things tweaked to fit their vital instruments. I think Jabber would be pretty playful with Zanka during their first meeting, joking around with him while they’re fighting and such, but after the trash beast fight, where Zanka calls him out on the masochistic + sadistic tendencies he tries to hide and then beats him once again despite Jabber knowing what he’s like now, Jabber would act colder with him as a sort of defense mechanism.

Sorry if not all of this is worded super well, I just wrote this all out, and it’s like 3 am LMAO. I’ll definitely post more about them later on, this is just the stuff I’ve thought about the most so far!!!! Thanks for the ask, and here's a little doodle for you, anon ^^