#shandora

What I find frustrating about Gan Fall is that he could have just given the land back to the Shandians without any strings attached (after all he fully admits that it rightfully belongs to them), and trusted that a goodwill gesture like that would be enough to make peace. After all it was all the Shandians really wanted from the start. And surely the Skypieans could have then traded with the Shandians, or even agreed to a deal where the Skypieans could maybe use some of the varse/vearth for their needs, or something.

(Even if the Shandians didn't want peace even after getting the land back, the Skypieans still clearly had the superior military power (otherwise they wouldn't have been able to keep the Shandians out in the first place) so it wasn't going to be a huge risk anyway. Either peace happens and Skypieans only have to give up direct control of the land, or there's no peace and the situation remains more or less the same.)

If someone steals something, we don't generally think it's right for the thief to demand concessions before returning the stolen property. Why is it that this doesn't seem to apply to land theft through colonialism?

Or if giving up all of the land was too politically contentious for him as the leader of the Skypieans, he could have at least given the Shandians half of the land with no strings attached and then negotiated peace and the potential return of the other half too. At the very least. He already implied that he was willing to return some of the land, but then why didn't he just do it? Imagine how differently the peace talks would have gone if he had given them half of the land back right at the start, without asking for anything in return for it, and only negotiating for the other half. Not that it would have been right either, but I think fewer Shandians would have sided with Wyper if that had been the case.

Since the Skypieans were the ones with all the land, the power balance was in their favour, and that's why I think the responsibility for peace was more heavily on their shoulders than on the Shandians. Not to mention that the Shandians were simply in the right. I fully understand Wyper's rage, no matter how unconstructive it is. I get why he was angry at the village elder planning on conceding without the Skypieans giving up anything to prove that they genuinely meant to make up for their ancestors' crimes, rather than just trying to pacify the Shandians without truly giving up their power. Many indigenous peoples have agreed to peace negotiations with their conquerors and been cheated and betrayed, so Wyper is absolutely correct in not trusting such a process. And in fairness to Wyper, his comment about demanding sacrifices came only after he heard that Gan Fall wasn't willing to return the land, and putting the "blessings" of Skypieans over the rights of the Shandians.

Basically what Gan Fall is implying is that Skypieans deserve to keep their privileges and that these privileges are more important than the Shandians' rightful ownership of the land. I understand why Wyper lashed out.

Wyper is frustrating because he's letting his anger guide his actions and he's not being helpful at all, but he's just not wrong. He's right to be angry and he's right to reject unjust deals with the colonisers.

Like these are grown men, they both have families of their own, both married and have kids, but they’re also just boyfriends???????

They new each other for like. a month. and completely changed each other’s lives and brain chemistry?????? Like the longing when noland left was so hard their descendants were adamant about finding the city that was so close to both of them

Kalgara missed his mans bad enough generations of his tribe fought to ring a bell that kalgara knew noland liked and wanted him to hear again

Noland missed his mans and cared about kalgara’s pride so much he was executed bc he refused to lie that kalgara (and shandora) never existed and led his descendants to look for shandora for several generations

Like noland got kalgara to completely change his beliefs and some traditions in order to help him

Kalgara changed his entire tribe’s way of life and view on outsiders just to keep his boyfriend around

And when he thought noland betrayed him???? When noland thought he messed up badly enough he could never be forgiven?????? Boom noland started to sail away and kalgara immediately chased him from the shore to yell at him to promise to come back

Both men have families of their own and cared about each other as an extension of those families- ride or die within a month

Like actually obsessed with these two rn

The way kalgara looked genuinely happy for the first time??? Because noland made a little inside joke??? We know noland was always good with people but kalgara was literally mentioned to not be close to people or even interact a lot with his own tribe- then this odd head shaped himbo with a phd in botany and gay longing shows up out of nowhere and kalgara starts being more social and laughs so much more????

Like if i had the time i probably would try writing fanfics of them bc holy oh my gods their dynamic is making me obsessed

They showed up in like 2 episodes 3 max and im obsessed

Like noland looks so much happier with his boyfriend and kalgara went from looking all scary to just a guy with a lot of feels

Like the first time we see kalgara genuinely laugh is stuck in my head bc he looks so good laughing like that and you know that’s how noland saw him

Noland cried leaving him and realizing he was gone and kalgara cried when he left and when he realized he couldnt ring the bell for him again

Like they cared about each other so much they both doomed and saved their descendants

Both died thinking about how they wanted to see the other one last time?????? They had a child (adopted snake) and it cried when it heard the bell hundreds of years later???????

Wyper heard their story once and immediately became obsessed with ringing that bell and he’s honestly so real for that (i just know he got the elder to tell him that story over and over until he memorized it)

And imagine him telling aisa that????? and getting choked up because now he knows noland’s descendants survived???? and how the bell finally did ring kalgara and noland and nola??????

Laki staring at him like “wow i forgot how emotional you were over those too” bc he always channeled the emotion into anger to motivate himself to get back to shandora. but like. they’re there finally so the anger’s gone and now he’s just sobbing over the doomed gay ancestors??????

So ya im gonna be thinking about these two for a while now

Like they are so gay and it’s amazing

They barely did more than hug physically speaking and they’re gayer than most ships out there

They would be too powerful if they weren’t doomed by the narrative

Noland got stuck in rubble and kalgara just…stayed with him for hours????? not helping bc he was conflicted but also staying around for if he needed help

And then a snake his people thought of as a god comes by and threatens him, noland goes “wait ive got medicine in my hand dude that thing can kill me but like your friends need this medicine” and kalgara just???? kills the snake in one hit????? and asks noland about it??? and laughs in his face a breath away from a mental breakdown bc holy oh no he just killed a god but noland tells him it’s a snake and now they need to get the medicine to the others and kalgara just????? helps him up and instantly becomes his boyfriend best friend (code for boyfriend bc wow they are gay)

And then they start to raise that snake’s kid????? and name it nola????? and it outlives them both and gets sad bc it misses them??????

His arrival is met with suspicion and excitement, as they’ve seen the beast whose wings he shared in the motifs of the ancient city. This is surely a sign of something.

He tells them of his mother, her name, what little of her life above the clouds that he knew, and a man who calls himself Wyper steps forward and tells him he must speak with his grandmother. Turns out, this grandmother of his is Dragon’s aunt.

He spends a couple of weeks there, listening to the bell that had been in too many dreams of his to count.

And then a girl comes to him. She is Aisa. She tells him there is something Nola- the Great Serpent- wishes for him to see.

He follows the girl and the deity into the bowels of the central structure, through winding corridors reaching deep beneath the stepped temple. He expects a poneglyph, but what awaits him is… not that. It’s a mural carved into the stone, long stripped of its gold inlay.

The right half depicts an Amaru, seated with wings spread wide behind them, lightning branching from each feathertip. At its back is a landscape view of high stormclouds. The left half depicts a crocodile, missing half of its left forelimb and with smoke spewing from between its jaws. At its back is another landscape of rolling dunes. At their feet are people, winged and not, tall and short, big and small, minks and fishmen and buccaneers and giants and so many more. All, people and beasts alike, face skyward. The sun itself is the centerpiece, rays fanning out to fill the negative space, and-…

Dragon nearly drops the torch he’s been given to light their way.

In its heart is a smiling figure holding a sword and a spear.

Isn't fate artistic? 😊

He also learned from Aisa that Nika has a multidue of other nicknames beyond just the Sun God.

The Desert's Smile.

The Storm's Delight.

The Sky's Laughing Candle

The Friend of All Friends

Each one made his cheeks hurt more and more from the smiling. The next time he sees Luffy, he's going to tell him during the millionth of many overdue hugs he's given his baby boy since they could see each other freely again that the world has loved him for such a long time.

What hits especially hard is that even though both these characters die shortly after, they DO meet again 400 years later through Luffy and Wiper.

Even though you never see Noland or Kalgara's reaction to the bell getting rung again in modern day, it's so easy to know exactly how they would react if they did hear it.

Another thing I deeply appreciate is when the bell is eventually rung its LUFFY ringing it for WIPER which is the inverse of Kalgara and Noland! That's just really interesting and dynamic storytelling.

The icing on the cake is Wiper himself acknowledging that Noland would have wanted to hear it.