#reuven

Just drew something cute with Reuven and Brook, but just in case some of you haven't read it yet!

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The most unapreciated part of Brook's second backstory in my opinion, is the way it tells a secondary tale about King Reuven, Brook's big brother, all through his reactions, his expressions, him letting himself go, and how there is such a clear divide between the younger and more hopeful young Prince who took in Brook as his brother, and a more cynical, downer man who has had to deal with the aftermath of his wife's brutal humiliation and the consequences thereoff that would in the end, get him and his entire kingdom wiped off the face of the Earth.

We are introduced to Reuven as an older man, clearly past his prime and if mayhaps not quite as far along as big mom, has clearly let himself go.

However, that isnt really the important part of this introduction, rather it's the very cold way he treats his little brother's proclamation of joy for his wife, and not any smile at his followup joke to try and ease the tension.

Now it's easy to think this is just a couple of siblings throwing barbs at each other... and it is, but there is a sharp divide between these two's thought process.

obviously ther was no way Reuven was going to execute brook here, but he isnt laughing either. For Brook's and Shuri, this is a funny little back and forth, but for Reuven, this is a bit that stopped being funny the moment when his wife was assaulted, and got pregnant with a world noble's child.

In hindsight, this moment, is downright depressing, because just like Brook making some lame joke about Arlong right besides Nami at fishman isle, he is very obliviously reopening a wound that is exceptionally bitter and personal to his own family.

rather than a big brother making a sarcastic barb, its instead him using words to get to vent out his feelings of rage and frustration at his little bro withouth having to immediatly resort to violence.

which in turn deeply colors the scene immeditaly following where he does try to use violence to vent his feelings at Brook.

There is also another underlying story under the surface that Brook doesnt pick up on, and isnt immediately obivious on a first reading.

Reuven 1. doesnt make any bones about the face that Shuri is his daughter, despite knowing fully well she is not his biological child.

And 2. he is very sensitive of the idea that Shuri isnt acting in the manner one would expect from a "True daughter". obviously this is a small family drama one could expect from a kid who doesnt know any better, and her older male family figures playing out a bit knowing fully well this precious crush sillyness isnt going anywhere... But when you have the full picture, and one sees how easily this very small display of "Rejection" from Shuri maked Reuven Cry, while also immediatly kicking Brook for "disrespecting her".

This is a man who is TERRIFIED that his daughter would reject him, the moment she learned he wasnt her biological dad, and overcompensates by being extremely overprotective.

Then when he learns the his wife is in danger, in a scene played for comedy, he has the usual one piece overreaction scene while begging Brook to go and handle it all, all while his little brother just takes it all easy, having already dealt with the threat, and in any case, it doesnt matter anyway, the queen is strong.

however, while listening to this, while Shuri has a more standard scared kid face at the news something bad might happen to mama, Reuven has a different kind. A much more genuinely scared and almost primal level of fear with the kind of small, blank white eyes Oda generally only uses when Characters are going through something absolutely horrible.

The reason for this, is that regardless of how strong his wife is, Reuden knows better. he knows that there are far, far more powerfull people in this world than him and his wife, and that you cannot take your own security for granted, because he lived through a similar scenario once, and it fundamentally altered him to his core.

and so, not trusting either his own, or his wife's strength, he can only turn to his strongest man, Brook.

For brook, this is a whimsical episode, for Reuden its a moment where he is about to have a mental breakdown as the worst day of his life seems about to happen again.

its also a strong juxtaposition with his wife, the actual true victim of the events that lead to Shuri's birth.

In sharp contrast to her husband, who basically became a completely different person, Candelle has NOT let what happened to her, define her life. Rather than a Victim, she is out there, confidently living her best life withouth fear, trusting in her own strength and that of Brook and her kingdom.

of course, first time reading this, all these details arent clear, and we are instead shown how pathethic Reuven seems, especially compared to Brook... But then we get the followup chapter showing how Brook and Reuden met... and he is completely different.

Instead of the reculsive, downer man we first saw, Reuden is instead far more like his wife, down to drink, sing, smoke and party, living life to the fullest withouth fear or worries about anything.

we also see his more fearless side, throwing himself into battle withouth abandon, which in turn was one of the things that made the younger brooks take to swordship in the first place.

This is Reuven in his prime, when he was young, strong, fearless, thinking he was invincible and as luffy would do so much later, decided he could take on the world government headon withouth fear or consequence.

and just like Luffy, he would come to have to face the fact that he could not.

The critical moment though, came as a result of that very event. Brook heartedly relays the events, treating it as a moment of whimsy, when in reality what happened here was this.

Reuven attacked marines, trusting in his royal status to protect him.

Sometime later, an escort of Celestial Dragons came to the country.

it does not take a genuis to figue out the course of events here, though brook's doesnt piece it together at all.

To save him, Reuden took on the world government, and in response, a bunch of celestial dragons, led by what seems to be one of Imu's holy knights, came to the kingdom.

The reality was stark, and Reuden would have firsthand discovered the conseuquences of crossing the government.

Because his father died at this exact time, leading to Reuven taking the throne.

and we know this happened RIGHT at this time or just afterwards, because while Brook tells this story in such a way you could assume the couple of months when Candelle was bedridden(aka, taking the time to deal with the consequnces of what happened to her) we can actually spot that this isnt quite how it happened, as Candelle was so early in her pregnancy when she and Reuven married and took the throne that there was no sign she was pregnant yet.

That means that as a consequence of how Reuven saved Brooks, his dad ultimately got killed, and the love of his life got raped, and knowing the holy knights modus operandi, he probably got quite the beating as well.

this moment, not shown to us, was the moment that completely changed Reuven into the man we see in the later parts of Brooks flashbacks, the man who, despite clearly still loving Brook's, couldnt just go back to the way things used to be.

On first reading, this moment where Reuven is juxtaposed with his wife, is meant to show a contrast with the carefree wife and the gloomy husband, but on the second read, this is a woman who overcame her trauma and has embraced her life and the daughter that came from her worst day fully, while her husband is filled with nothing but worry, worry about the kingdom, himself and his daughter's relationship, and her growing so close with brook. a man reuven still loves, but clearly cannot just be as open about it as he used to be.

There is too much baggage here. it's not hard to imagine that at least some part of Reuven must at least to some degree blame brook for what happened. even if no such ugly part of himself exists, there is the way brooks so carelessly procalims his love for his wife, that though meant in chaste manner, Reuven CANNOT just accept for what it is. and of course there is the way that Brooks has become his mirror. in a small family where nobody else is worried, he is the realist, the man who truly understands how weak they are and how easily things can change.

For a man who is afraid of his daughter rejecting him if she ever found out the real truth, so easily bonding and turning to his younger brother, who brings such complicated feelings to, its really must have seemed obvious to him, in a way that it didnt to everybody else(maybe except his wife) how outside his own family Reuven felt. The king, the leader of his family and people who adored him, and yet here he is, isolated and unable to find himself at peace in the world.

brooks is his most loyal supporter and the man who loves Reuven more than anything else in the world, and yet there is a deep, silent cliff between him and his brother, who by all accounts, was the one his daughter always turned to. Not him.

then everything got worse.

the unnatural smog(most certainly caused by the world government to set up what came next) killed his country. it destroyed his economy, setting up round two with the government as he no longer could pay his yearly heavenly tribute.

it killed his wife, once again proving to Reuven that he could not protect her when it came down to it, and it destroyed his body itself, a perfect living symbol of what had become of his realm, his family and his people.

when he returns from his last trip to the holy land, or wherever it was he had his chat with the government, he is unapolygetic, and brutually to the point.

War is coming, and it's a war he clearly understands he cannot win.

This is not some grand stand where he hopes he can somehow win against the odds.

This is a man caught between a rock and a hard place.

He cannot abandon his people and land. which means he has to stay and fight here. he cannot, and will not give up the actual price the world government wants, which is Shuri. which means he must face the consequences of standing against the world government.

he cannot flee, and he has to fight. so he must make his final stand here.

it is also here, that he does something new. He lies. he flat out lies and sells his people and Brook a lie that he was given a choice to either give up a thousand slaves, or war.

Whatever his motivation, wheter its fear his people will refuse to fight for Shuri, or just to motivate them to fight harder thinking their families becoming slaves is the actual goal of the government, or he just does not want to publicly explain the hows and why this all came to be and why they want her, we dont know, but lie he does.

whatever the reason, the effect is the same, as Reuven prepares to go to his final battle, his people rallies, and his little brother trusts in him completely, certain that his brother knows best, that it is not his place to challenge his king's decisions.

the contrast could not be clearer. Brooks, to the last, has hope. he believes their cause is just and that they will somehow, against the odds, prevail.

Meanwhile, Reuven knows better.

And what a fitting thing his brother would one day say these words to Big Mom...

Young lady… What kind of fool would ever plan to die?!

The tragic fool in question, is Reuven... but who is the true fool? the fool, or fools who follows him?

Brook during the short war is spectacular, but he is not brave. he simply does not even consider an outcome where they actually lose.

This makes him the polar opposite of his brother, who was defined by his fears and his worries.

Brook believed that him and his people's names and history could not easily dissapear from history and the maps of the world.

even as the palace is breached, and he sees all the symbols of his past and the places that were important to him go up in flames, Brook's still believes that somehow, victory must be possible and in fact natural.

because there is no way that his great big brother, the man brooks respects and loves more than anything or anyone in the world, could ever lose.

But Reuven was not rocks, nor joy boy... and come to think of it, both Rocks and Joy Boy lost to Imu didnt they?

One aspect of Reuven's death that Oda deliberately hid from us, was Reuven's face when he died.

unlike Rocks, who was smiling at the end, despite it all, we dont get to see the look of utter defeat that Reuven has in the end, just like we never got to see Brook's own eyes in his first flashback as he died. their emotions were deliberately left for us to imagine at the scene of his greatest failure.

but there is one, final little detail to note in the tragedy of King Reuven of Esperia, older brother of Dead Bones Brook's.

chains. this is a small detail to his outfit that can be easy to miss on the first read, but are very obvious in hindisight.

These chains were such a defining part of Reuven's royal attire, that when brook later tries to think back to what happened, his brain damaged mind conjures them up because he expect them to be there.

Reuven wore these chains across his back, his entire life as king, putting them on sometime after his coronation, and afterwards, during his entire reign, there were only two times they werent there, a silent detail the king literarily carried around with him everywhere he went.

the first time was at his wife's grave, the only time during his life when he werent wearing them.

and the second time, was at the sight of his death, when having been slain at the hands of the young girl he raised as his own, the chains and whatever it was that they represented to him, was gone.

Stylish Franky on the color spread! He's reminding me a bit of Igaram's hair, though with more spikes.

I'm glad we spend a bit of time on Zaza and Ripley being badasses. Ripley's gotta value her life more though. Yes work to save her son, but don't just rush in without a plan.

This is Reuven and Valst from Obelicta world

Who are your main characters in your WIPS?

Optional: side/supporting characters? Villains?

Happy sts to you too! Always good to see you ^^ I have waaay too many characters, so if you want the full list I'd recommend checking out my pinned post, but here's all of the main characters.

The Plight of a Sparrow -

Sparrow, a young woman torn between being optimistic and being anxious who just wants to save her loved ones in a world that's determined to kill everyone, including her.

The Shackles of Time -

Arlen, a cheerful, optimistic moon elf mage who left his homeland for freedom and adventure.

Merle, a tough human warrior woman whose left her homeland for a special brand of revenge.

Night, a mysterious Shade-kin woman who is on a quest to save as many people from early deaths as she can.

Forgotten Gods -

Silver, a magic forest hermit with a dark past whose finding being a hermit is next to impossible when your neighbors are nosy.

Reuven, an elven hunter who is trying to keep the balance between people and nature.

Kitan, a clumsy beast-kin champion whose just trying to find his place in this world while his goddess laughs.

My Ancestor, My Enemy -

Lierin, a quietly angry elven woman whose trying to save a fellow Hunter and finish his mission, only to be drawn deep into a mystery neither of them had been ready for.

Orion's Oblivion -

Orion, a chain-smoking bounty hunter who hates people and just wants to get the vampire off his ship.

Spark, Said ship's AI and the only voice of reason in this story, thus far.

Jinx, The vampire that Orion accidentally woke up and had take over his ship. She's on a mission to settle a personal score and maybe save the universe while doing it.

The Dragon's Crown -

Ophelia, a notorious thief, con, escape artist, and public nuisance. Has a list of crimes longer than she is tall, and a knack for landing herself into deeper and deeper troubles without trying.

The Firewalker -

Thistle, a former thief and assassin whose on the run from her former boss/kidnapper. Is trying to help people as a traveling healer these days.

Valerian, an angry and persecuted fire mage who just wanted to see the ocean once in his life and ended up landing himself into more trouble and Thistle's schemes.