*crawls into inbox hopefully* OP Usopp scheherazade?
OP USOPP SCHEHERAZADE. every time i remember this exists i tell myself i need to finish it and then i get distracted. i have to just embrace that i have no particular plot once it gets to onigashima and go for it, i think.
The warden made them come back out of the cell to argue about paperwork, which was nice of the universe to arrange because it gave Usopp the space to truly panic about that in private.
“God-ya.”
Oh, great, now Law was here, what perfect timing. Usopp flinched at the voice coming from the little barred window of his cell, and then immediately scrambled over as he realized who it was. “Torao! I didn’t tell them anything, I swear—“
“You told them there was a wandering monk who could cure toad boils,” Law’s voice said. “Thank so much for helping me stay undercover. That really made my life much easier.”
“You had your Jolly Roger on your clothes!” Usopp hissed at him.
“Kine’mon did it first,” Law huffed. “No one here reads the outside papers anyway. That’s not the point.”
“You’re damn right that’s not the point,” Usopp said. “Do your hand thingy and get me out of here before I get shipped to Kaido’s dungeon!”
“What?”
Usopp knocked his head against the wall. Carefully. “I’ve been telling stories to distract those Gifters from beating me up and now they want to drag me back to Onigashima so the guard here can’t kick them out. I don’t care if I end up with a wanted poster like Zoro’s, everyone can make fun of me forever, just get me out of here!”
Law hummed. It was not a ‘oh-Usopp-your-life-is-so-hard, we-should-all-have-more-sympathy’ hum, so Usopp hated it already. “Actually, this might be a perfect opportunity. We’ll stage you inside Kaido’s court. You look nothing like your wanted poster, so even the Gifters won’t recognize you.”
“Wh—come on!” Usopp hissed. “Don’t leave me here!”
“You’re not in danger, assuming you can keep talking your way out of injury,” Law said. “They’ll ask more questions if their prisoner vanishes, and it could blow all our cover stories. This way, you’ll be in position when we have to take the battle to Kaido.”
Usopp unleashed his secret weapon of their mutually assured destruction. “What’s going to happen when Luffy shows up and finds out I’m gone? He’s already gone chasing after Sanji! Are you going to risk him storming Onigashima early and ruining your plan?”
“Well, he’ll have to get himself out of Udon prison first.”
“…He’s here?”
“Here. Brought Blackleg back. Causing trouble. Getting himself caught by Kaido and locked up in Udon.” Law sounded very annoyed. “Because he couldn’t hold himself back from charging in at the first possible opportunity.”
“It is Luffy,” Usopp pointed out. “You think you’d have learned how he works by now, Torao.”
“The point is,” Law said, ignoring Usopp’s already-made very good point. “that he’ll have to get himself out first. Udon should slow him down for at least a week or two. Try to gather information until then, we should be able to execute a tactical strike to get you out if necessary.”
“So you’re just going to throw me to the king of beasts?” Usopp’s voice squeaked unfortunately.
“Didn’t you already spend two years on an island where everything was trying to kill you? Two weeks is nothing.”
“Torao, don’t leave me here—”
Too late to keep arguing. The cell door was opening and the Gifter standing there looked far too smug to have lost his argument with the warden.
“Who are you talking to?” the Beast Pirate asked, curious.
“Oh, you know. Railing at the cruel, uncaring hand of fate,” Usopp said, raising his voice to make sure the useless eavesdropper outside heard him. He could hear Law’s stupid little heh through the window. Bastard.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Hey just wanted to say I really appreciate how you write Duke and how much of a role Duke has in the Batburger AU. Because he's SUCH a cool character and just as crazy as the rest of the bats (plus powers!), but he never gets that light in the fandom. because, well, you know, you know. Thank you so much for your excellent writing and work!
ahhh thank you!!! Duke is fr one of my favorite characters, he's so fun and interesting and I wish more people knew how amazing he is as a character. I think his lack of focus in fandom is, in part, one of those self-perpetuating things, where people don't write about him in fanfic, so people don't read about him and don't gain an interest in his comics, so they don't write or read about or talk about him, and yeah...thus the cycle continues.
But I knew I wanted to include him in the Batburger AU in a major way, not just because one of his skills is called 'ghost sense' but because he's important to me as a character. I was reading a lot of his comics when I was developing the plot for IYGABAB, particularly the Karma storyline. I think it's pretty clear the effect that comic run had on the batburger au lol.
Anyway, Duke is funny, he's smart, he's clever, he takes no shit, and sometimes he does things like jump out of a moving car into a river (to escape from crooked cops, but still), so I wanted to highlight that no, he isn't the "only sane/stable bat-themed vigilante", he's a complex, fascinating character who does what he thinks is right in his own way. His perspective is one of my favorite ones to write from; I always have fun when it's Duke's turn with the POV. A lot of the next chapter (ch 16) will feature him, I'm excited to share it! Once I get it all edited, which is taking a while, but we'll get there!
Thank you for reading! I'm thrilled you're enjoying the story, and I can't wait to share the rest with you ^w^
@beastenraged so eventually there will be happy endings in the My Love series, and the vision of this one smacked me in the face yesterday:
A quick glance over her shoulder confirms Brook has taken the helm; Jinbei slowly paces towards the front deck, making himself visible the whole way. Some of the commotion in the settlement eases. The panic slows, or at least grows quiet, though Nami is still able to pick out worried expressions peering out of windows and from between homes.
Luffy has stayed silent the whole way, perched on Sunny’s figurehead.
They aren’t going to fight, not in a place clearly meant to be a hidden refuge, where one small unknown pirate ship is enough to cause this much of a stir. It would be nice to at least be allowed to restock their supplies, and find out how long it’ll take the log pose to reset, but Nami for one doesn’t want to inflict more fear on these people than necessary. Some of those scared faces watching them belong to children.
So. She carefully moves to stand beside Jinbei, ready to help negotiate with the gathering defenders, already tallying up how much they can afford to spend on a docking fee if that will help ease tensions-
Someone laughs.
Startled twitches roll through her crew and the crowd alike. Heads turn; people step aside. Nami squints, catching a flicker of white, a waving hand, and then flat out stares at a woman who comes rushing down the path that opens for her. Pale hair, and a weathered face, but she’s got a bright, eager smile, and a striking tattoo that curls around her left eye, most of a circle with yellow and white streaks striking outwards, like sunbeams.
“Huh,” Nami hears Luffy say. And then, “Oh- OH! HEY! HI! You made it out!” She glances up, startled, and sees her captain look ecstatic as he waves back, before abruptly bringing his hands down to cup them together, and slowly peel them apart.
The woman below them laughs again. A bunch of the people around her look stunned.
And before Nami or Jinbei can catch him, Luffy bounds down and leaps off the Sunny’s deck, and just before he wraps the woman up in a hug she makes a gesture of her own-
Nami’s breath catches in her throat.
Ace’s expression grew sly, as he curled his fingers around thin air, like he was holding something, and then pantomimed griping a slender object in his other hand and running it over the first. Two sweeps, at which point Luffy shrieked in outrage and launched himself at his brother, hollering “I am NOT a baby!”
“But you were~”
“Shut UP-!”
“Fat little potato b- ouch!” The teasing stopped in favor of Ace wrestling Luffy to the Merry’s deck, and by the time the two of them came up again they’d already moved on to bickering about something else. But frequently, during their days in Alabasta, all Ace needed to do was hold his hands in that particular way, of peeling a potato, to send his brother into a fit.
It was funny, and baffling, and Nami never did get an explanation. But here and now, this woman makes the same gestures, two swipes of a paring knife, and then follows it by folding her arms together as if- as if cradling a baby. And Luffy just laughs, before he sweeps her up into a spinning hug, uncaring of all the people staring in pure shock.
“Oyster?”
This time it’s a man who comes through the crowd, more anxious than outright alarmed. The woman pats at Luffy’s shoulder, and he sets her down, still giggling, so she can start making more gestures with her hands- speaking with her hands, Nami realizes. The potato-baby signs again, followed by a quick succession of others, including a gesture at the sunburst on her face, and slowly the crowd relaxes. Including the man who called out, looking relieved as he signs back and comes closer.
Nami takes that as her cue that it's safe to disembark. In short order, she and Jinbei alone of the crew descend to the dock, and secure Sunny’s mooring lines before they approach Luffy and the pair of locals.
“Hey, guys!” Their captain beams. “This is-” His hands do the same thing, cupped together and opening, which Nami now interprets as an oyster opening, “She knew me when I was a baby!”
Oh?
...oh.
“Potato baby,” Nami says, which gets a snicker from both Luffy and the woman alike. “Huh. Well, hello! It’s nice to meet you!”
“You as well,” the man replies, glancing at Oyster’s hands as they move. “From the both of us. Not many visit, it’s good to get a known face. Ah- I’m Pann, by the way. Oyster’s husband. And this-” Pann reaches behind his back, tugging a cloth sling into view, and with it, a chubby infant who can’t be more than six months old. “-is Seed.”
Luffy’s eyes are so wide they’re practically about to fall out of his head.
Oyster’s smile turns proud, as she takes the baby from her husband. One of her hands makes a new gesture: pinching something, and then all her fingers twisting and blooming outward. Luffy copies it, perfectly, on the first try, before leaning in close towards that tiny face. “Hi, Seed,” he whispers, only half as loud as usual. Little cheeks and nose scrunch up, at least until the baby burbles, and reaches to grab Luffy’s nose.
Both he and Oyster have matching, delighted grins.
---
“Hey! Can I give Seed a-” Luffy signs something, swiping a hand down his forehead and flicking out his fingers, a gesture Nami could easily mistake for just wiping his brow and shaking away some sweat, except for how Oyster inhales sharply.
Their shadows shuffle; handing the baby over, probably, judging by how Luffy’s outline starts to gently sway back and forth.
“Hi, Seed,” he says, Nami concentrating with every fiber of her being to listen. “I’ve got a blessing for you, just like the one your mom gave me. Once you find your dream, as long as you chase it, no matter what, you’ll always be free. Got that?” Seed babbles. “Good.”
Oyster makes a low sound, like she might be about to cry.
Nami turns around and goes back to the party, not sure of what just happened, but certain she doesn’t need to know. What she does know, by the time the party winds down with more than enough laughter and cheer to make up for their arrival, is that her prediction once again proved right:
In 666, now that Vox has discovered the *ahem* wonders of wireplay, does he get Valentino fiddling around? Or is he keeping this to an Alastor-only Experience? ;)
I GENUINELY FEEL LIKE. While he would be very into it on principle, especially because God knows Valentino can be sexy-mean with the best of them. I do NOT think that Vox would trust this blind-ass moth to be able to safely fuck around with his guts, especially without possessing so much as a whit of technological powers!
That said, please imagine Vox trying to figure out the best way to modify his own insides to be brightly color-coded and more easily accessible so that Val can play him like a fiddle on demand without anyone risking disembowelment.
(Val wants to know if he can stick his dick in there, too. Vox objects violently on principle, and then promptly thinks about it for way too long, unfortunately coming to the conclusion that he probably can't hack that kind of mod.)
Minor Interference AU: and how are my favorite 'goyles doing? What are their thoughts on this entire situation?
The goyles actually find the whole situation pretty entertaining, because Draxum is completely unused to interacting with people who don't already respect him. Neither of them are really trying to be perceived as authority figures, unlike Draxum, so there's automatically less conflict of interest in their interactions with the turtles, if that makes sense? They're also a lot more laid back/permissive than Draxum tends to be (which the turtles are fine with because it's much closer to what they're used to from adults) so for they most part they're just vibing as the boys cause chaos lol.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Started playing new spider-man game, Harry showed up and my first thought was "this is how the polycule can still happen." You've infected me, congrats
SORRY AND YOU'RE WELCOME. I've been doing the exact same speculation from home as news comes out and I don't even have any way to play these games. Three Of Them.........
Excuse me for saying so, but a lot of your disinterest in Anakin reminds me of your disinterest in Itachi. Namely, that these are two characters who slaughtered a ton of innocent people that fandom tends to excuse by demonizing every other character that came into contact with them. Which isn't bad, actually, I really kinda prefer your thoughts on them because I really don't favor Anakin or Itach as a whole compared to nearly everyone else.
You are definitely not the first person to make that comparison, and tbh a lot of it stems from the same cause, for me - they’re both characters that a large portion of the fandom likes to bend over backwards to excuse, even though they’ve done things that objectively make them absolutely terrible people. And that can be interesting!! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good villain with a complicated backstory and a last-minute redemption. But I like to examine what that character did through the lens of them being bad, and not being some Pure Sweet Angel Wronged By the World.
Anakin and Itachi are both characters where the fanbase can be very “either you think they’re actually a good person and not at fault for literal genocide or you should go die”, and that’s enough to kill any interest I have in the character themselves.
