UM??

A KISS?? IS SHE ASKING FOR A KISS????

I’ve mentioned before (in this post) about the word 愛している/aishiteiru and its use in Japanese as a very weighty, significant way of expressing love. It’s the deep, abiding, can’t-live-without-you kind of love, and it’s a word that’s really not used often- thus far in the story, it’s been used exactly once, when Vivi is proclaiming her love for Alabasta. 

And yet it’s used here, by Franky of all people, in his first conversation with Usopp, and he uses it to refer to Usopp’s love for the Going Merry. What he says is 船をずいぶん愛しちまってるらしいな/fune wo zuibun aishichimatteru rashii na.

Oh The AUDACITY of the boy!