Doing My Usual "lets Go Back And Read Random BSD Chapters" And I Can't Help But Notice How Different

Gifs of all of Lucy’s ability animations in mayoi

The resource on the mayoi wiki has them all sped up so I slowed them down to what I think is their original speed. Sharing is caring so here you go

No because I don’t think we as a fandom talk enough about the orphanage points system.

Because what the fuck?

What do you mean these kids have to rack up enough points to be able to eat?????

And the one who loses points the most is Atsushi who is already routinely starved.

Like Atsushi had no one, the staff hate him and the kids bully and terrorise him so that they can survive.

It doesn’t matter if he’s actually at fault or not because he’ll never be believed by anyone. It’s why the hammer incident happened because some kids accused him of stealing.

Not only was Atsushi abandoned by his parents but he was never able to rely on anyone. He was terrified and hurting and no one cared.

Everyone around him was using him for their own gain. It didn’t matter if he was hurt because he’s Atsushi.

And that’s been his reality for at minimum 7 years which to put that into perspective is the same amount of time that Chuuya’s been with the Port Mafia.

That’s Fifteen, Stormbringer, the Dragons Head incident, the creation of and the reunion of Soukoku.

That’s insane.

It really says a lot about the “survival of the fittest” mentality of the headmaster.

Just imagine Atsushi trying to save up enough points at the Agency because he doesn’t question that it would be different here.

And everyone having to tell him that he doesn’t have to earn the right to eat or sleep or any other basic necessity.

Which I’m sure all feeds into Atsushi feeling like he needs permission to live.

It’s such a tragic and yet important part of his upbringing that I would love to see explored more.

That and the whole thing of Atsushi not being allowed to own his own possessions and things. And how suddenly having money, having a place to live.

Learning it’s okay that he can buy things and own things without.

Also just the heartbreaking realisation that the only thing that Atsushi has that belonged to him is his ability.

And they took that from him too.

So something that caught my attention with the Dragon symbolism stuff with the world nobles vs how it’a used in the RA led me down a rabbit hole that I found interesting enough to share.

So the whole thing stems from two instances of dragon claws being depicted in One Piece.

So! First we have the Celestial Dragon Claw, four clawed, used as branding to mark word noble “property”. Then we have the Dragon Claw Fist, three clawed, a fighting style that we can assume was developed by the RA using the Finger Pistol of the Six Powers as a base.

The difference here is the number of claws, which is what lead me down the rabbit hole in the first place.

The consensus is that the claw number of a depicted dragon is actually a class indicator. Bear in mind that these observations stem from Chinese folklore and its place in Imperial Chinese law, so it might not hold water. And as always do correct me if I’m off in any of these points.

The number of claws and the colorations of dragons in Imperial China was an extremely important thing, and misrepresentations of these could quite literally get you and others executed for acts of treason.

Five clawed yellow or gold (or red during the Ming Dynasty) dragons are a symbol of imperial power for the emperor alone to use. It was illegal for nobles and civilians to wear anything depicting a five-clawed yellow or gold dragon in Imperial China. It was considered- as stated above- an act of treason, and offenders (and their families) could be imprisoned or executed for the crime.

Four clawed dragons are a symbol of nobility. Lesser in the hierarchy than the imperial dragon, but still a mark of high status. It was illegal for civilians to wear depictions of four-clawed dragons. Again, a treasonous act punishable by death or imprisonment under Imperial law.

Civilians could depict dragons with three claws. This was allowed.

So, we can make an assumption here that through these observations, the RA use the three clawed dragon as symbolic of the class warfare that is happening in the One Piece world. But there is another thing!!!

There are these things called Dragon Dance Competitions, where a nine-segmented dragon puppet is manipulated by a team of dancers and musicians to have the dragon chase a pearl- a symbol of wisdom- across the allocated space. These are very interesting to watch, and I highly recommend giving one a watch, since there are plenty of them to see on YouTube. Do take care if you are photosensitive or sound sensitive, as they are bright and loud.

A tradition for these competitions and others (such as lion dances and dragon boat races) is called an “eye dotting ceremony”, which happens at the beginning of the competition. An authorized party comes by to paint the pupils on a dragon to symbolically awaken or- relevant to this post- empower it.

The Celestial Dragon’s Claw is a symbol nobility, and likely has high amounts of regulation on how it can and cannot be used, with infractions on those regulations met with imprisonment at best, and cipher pol or a buster call at worst. It would be highly guarded, and was used to brand people to mark them as property, as we know.

The dragon depicted in the introduction to the Dragon Claw Fist that Sabo utilizes? Three claws, no pupils. It is an unempowered civilian dragon- a weakling by dragon standards- and it is beating the shit out of a World Government official.

Class warfare symbolism. Revolutionary symbolism.

He only appeared for two chapters but I already love Gaban

They hang out in canon (delusional)

HUZZAH almost 10 months in the making I present my biggest project so far!! My new bsd stormbringer animatic is UP NOW GO WATCH IT

The day Oda reveals Brook's life before he became a pirate will be the day I rest

a secret little party🎂

Boy is making himself so dizzy

"what is bsd even about anymore" it is what it always was about. hope and rebirth and the power of friendship