Using Anime For Motivation Is A Normal Thing To Do

Have they reunited already? Wait, they do reunite, right?!

"I want to see you all the time." You'd grow tired of me. "Never."

Modern/Mob Boss AU where kingpin crocodad’s unruly son keeps getting himself into trouble (running away, falling for blatant kidnapping schemes, picking fights with Crocodile’s more aggressive casino customers, etc) so he has to ask Mihawk, who runs a private “security” firm, to provide a babysitter bodyguard who can both keep Luffy safe and withstand his annoying ass

and i should mention that magical shit still happens here so chopper is still a deer. i imagine they found him because luffy wanted to take his boat out one day and forced everyone else (including vivi, an ambassador from another country that got involved with a gang and jumped them once when they went out fishing) to go with him, and in the hawaiian islands they found a winter one and just grabbed the talking deer and took it with them. brook washed up on shore one day in a coffin and they housed him in the motel while they caught a flight to the mainland to beat up californian dracula (gecko moria) so yeah. jinbei just showed up on the shore one day because the politics in atlantis were getting too heated and he needed a piña colada and back massage

all this to say that the customer experience is kinda wild. some example reviews:

“Lovely service, the beach is beautiful and the rooms are spotless. The staff are prompt but a little strange. I’m pretty sure I saw the manager talking to a raccoon….”

from a hollywood star that visited the place talking on her podcast: “The food is incredible but the service was slow and waiter was outright cruel to my date.” she leans into the camera and whispers- “I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I swear to god I caught a glimpse of a skeleton peeking in through my window when I was changing. And I was on the second floor!”

I could go on with these reviews but I’ll just add one more from like a 4chan post:

>Be me

>Visiting the motel that’s been on the news out of sheer curiosity

>Don’t believe any of the rumors but go anyway

>Arrive, am greeted by a drop-dead gorgeous girl who guides me to my room

>I notice my wallet is missing all my cash

> I think she robbed me? What the hell

>I stick around anyway

>The room, drinks, food, and service is great, 10/10 experience and for dirt cheap (minus the robbed cash)

>Day 3 out of 4, wandering around

>There’s a sign

> “Private nude beach: do not enter”

>

>Ofc I try to enter it

>Grab a bag, towel, water and my shorts and charge right in

You’re not gonna believe me here, but I swear to god this happened. I couldn’t believe it either.

>I walk down this long ass path through the woods

>On the verge of giving up kinda long

>Finally make it to the beach

>I see a bunch of girls

>I think im super lucky

>Take one more step forward

(you will not believe me)

>I see they have FISH TAILS

>I’m not kidding. Every single one of them has an honest to god FISH TAIL from the waist down

>I JUST ENCOUNTERED FUCKING MERMAIDS

>AND THERE’S JUST A DUDE STANDING THERE TALKING TO THEM

>This kid is standing there (on two legs!) happily chattering with mermaids

>He notices me

>I bolt. Call me a pussy, but I did

>Spend my last day there in shock

>The owner comes to greet me when I check put for some reason

>ITS THE SAME DUDE.

>He shakes my hand and stares at me cause he KNOWS

>I bolt even faster than before. In the car, on the plane, I’m outta there.

I’m a total conspiracy theorist now. I can’t get it out of my head. But I sweat to god it’s true.

…..I might go back?

i've seen some discourse floating around recently about whether or not imu is a good final villain, and it got me thinking about how--as someone who has been a fan of OP since before they were introduced--i'm actually really, REALLY glad imu exists.

before imu was revealed, i was always a little worried about something. to me, the most important antagonist in all of OP is the world government and the celestial dragons. the corruption of the marines is introduced in the very first arc of the entire series. the world government is who created the warlord system, who ruined robin's life and destroyed her homeland, who killed ace.

the WG have also aided, influenced or even created the vast majority of villains throughout the series: corrupt marines protected arlong, crocodile took advantage of the warlord system, lucci & co are WG agents, caesar worked as a government scientist, doflamingo is a product of mariejois, big mom was raised by a child trafficker who worked for the government, kaido was sold to marines by his country in their attempt to curry favor with the government....etc etc.

not only that, but the world government and their use of power to enslave, subjugate and discriminate is a perfect antithesis to everything luffy and his crew respresent. they are THE villain of one piece.

except they weren't. before imu, the WG was just a massive, complex web of intertwined systems. the celestial dragons themselves were shown as lazy and weak, dangerous only by virtue of their political sway, not their actual ability. this is wonderful in that it is a great mirror to irl models of power and subjucation, where there is not just one guy at the top who you can punch out in order to fix everything.

it is NOT wonderful in that one piece is a shonen battle manga, and the main protagonist's whole thing is punching out the guy at the top in order to fix everything.

so that was my worry: despite the WG feeling like the obvious primary villain, i was scared that they wouldn't get a lot of focus in the final saga compared to more standard villains like blackbeard. after all, if luffy and co were to fight the WG, who would they even fight? sakazuki, sure, but sakazuki just works for the WG, he doesn't run it. the celestial dragons? that's like kicking a baby. it wouldn't be a real fight. there's the gorosei, but at the time (and tbh even now that we know they ARE a genuine threat) they really just seemed like a gaggle of old bureaucrats rather than a compelling final boss.