Mihawk In His Own Weird Gothic Way Is A Disney Princess Except Instead Of Cutesy Woodland Animals He

Mihawk in his own weird gothic way is a Disney princess except instead of cutesy woodland animals he attracts eerily human abandoned forest creatures that can do his bidding and red haired menaces and cotton candy haired children that test his patience

I feel like many people have a fundamental misconception of what unreliable narrator means. It's simply a narrative vehicle not a character flaw, a sign that the character is a bad person. There are also many different types of unreliable narrators in fiction. Being an unreliable narrator doesn't necessarily mean that the character is 'wrong', it definitely doesn't mean that they're wrong about everything even if some aspects in their story are inaccurate, and only some unreliable narrators actively and consciously lie. Stories that have unreliable narrators also tend to deal with perception and memory and they often don't even have one objective truth, just different versions. It reflects real life where we know human memory is highly unreliable and vague and people can interpret same events very differently

“The dream must end or the people can not go free” puts that in my back pocket.

But no seriously this goes hard and honestly have never thought about it that way.

So we all remember this moment from Jaya

It's an iconic moment for a reason, people love it so much so you see people make fanart of it or even get it tattooed on themselves, and it's understandable 'cause what Teech says here is kind... hopeful, inspirational even

Which is why the scene always felt so wrong to me, in a way I could not like put into words or explain why?? Like I wanted to be like "hey this guy isn't that bad, I agree with him!" and yet what Blackbeard says here didn't quite sit right with me?

But now, in-hindsight, I understand why

It's because Blackbeard is wrong

Like, from the begining, from when we're introduced to Blackbeard, he and Luffy are explicitly shown to be the polar opposites of each other in many ways (their taste in food being just one easy way to summarize it), including in ideals and beliefs

And while it would be so easy to think this scene was about showing that despite their differences Luffy and Blackbeard actually have one thing they agree on, one common ground

They don't

Luffy's dream has an end

And it's not just that, that's not the only reason he's the opposite of Blackbeard in this sense. If Luffy just keeps on dreaming of doing things, he will never achieve them, because achieving your dreams means the end of them

And think about how that reflects on the rest of the story

If people keep on dreaming of freedom, they will never be free

Nami's village would remain in Arlong's hands, rain would never fall in Alabasta again, the fire of Shandra would never be lit again, Water 7 will sink into the ocean, the kids on Punk Hazard would never see their parents again, the families of Dressrosa would never be reunited, Wano would remain under Kaidou's oppression, everyone on Fishman Island will remain at the bottom of the ocean and never see the true sun

The dream must end or the people can not go free

The darkness of night will break away The dream will end and the sun will rise

I am very down with the idea that whenever Shanks comes to Visit him on Kuriagina Mihawk uses him like hired muscle

He works him like a dog, Shanks hasn’t even set two feet on the island and Mihawk has handed him a list of all the furniture that needs moving, the light bulbs (he has like 30 chandeliers) that need changing, the rooms that need repainting. Living in the ruins of a castle of a dead kingdom takes work. Could Mihawk do it? No he has a garden to take care off.🙄

Just the idea that Mihawk started a renovation project on his castle while Zoro was there as part of his “training” and Shanks shows up and really Shanks you’re just gonna stand there while the kid does all that heavy lifting Mihawk says as he sips his glass of wine.

Shanks of course is happy to do it. Benn, who he recruits cause there’s just somethings a one armed man shouldn’t do on his own, is of course disgruntled that he has once again been dragged into their weird foreplay.

Perona of course goes “I’m just a girl” 🥺. And of course when Mihawk is unmoved by this She huff and sets to tricking Zoro to do her share of the tasks as well.

She then proceeds to become the most heinous, unethical, inhumane work site manager to ever exist. All while wearing a glittery construction vest and bedazzled hard hat

You do get the sense that Mihawk is a man that has never been normal about a single thing, a day in his life.

He either underreacts or overreacts, Things either don't affect him or obsess him there is no in between. There is only the russian roulette of which option you get.

And unless you're a certain red head or cotton candy haired child, neither option spells anything great for your general well being or the integrity of your ship...

Let’s goooooooo!

—-

“You can cook?” Shanks said as they stepped inside Mihawk’s private kitchen. His eyes were open wide, that indomitable smile lost to surprise. 

Mihawk slid the door shut, fingers steady. “Naturally. You can’t?”

“I can stick a fish on a sword and grill it,” Shanks admitted, shrugging into Mihawk’s space, and wrapping an arm around his waist. The left, of course. Shanks was predictable enough to damn them both, for all that his actions were carved in a language Mihawk couldn’t speak. “Not much more than that.”

“Hopeless,” Mihawk judged. 

“A captain,” Shanks corrected, smiling. “I’ve got a crew to do the cooking— and a lover too, it looks like. You going to make me dinner, pretty bird?”

“Not if you call me that again,” Mihawk answered, shaking Shanks and the arm away.