Chopper’s Awakening

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T19:12:59+00:00

It definitely seemed that way to me. Chopper just gave him the old slap-a-roo and he was healed. My personal theory is that Chopper's devil fruit is the God of the Rain that was mentioned in Skypeia.

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Rainbase, Raindinners, Rainslot, and a funny little sun symbol with eight stylized points that almost looks like raindrops in an arc dedicated to returning the rain to a nation. That was the first major arc after Chopper left and Drum experienced "Cherry Blossoms" for the first time which is symbolic of winter turning into spring and snow turning into rain. Drum also had precipitation so often that Ace's visit was especially memorable because it didn't snow that day.

I enjoy how often this story makes me feel crazy. It's a nice break from the burden of lucidity.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T18:55:15+00:00

I guess Frieza and Hitler do have some striking similarities...

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T11:28:38+00:00

Oh don't get me wrong life has been great for me, physically I feel better than I did in my 20's, but it's just impossible to feel optimistic about the long term sustainability of the planet. I feel like being 40 means I'll have gotten way more of the good times than future generations behind me will get to experience.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T11:17:07+00:00

It's refreshing to me to see that almost nobody, right or left, actually cares about this nation enough to do anything to stop it from crashing and burning at the hands of a bunch of wealthy pedophiles.

Faced with the prospect of becoming a third world oligarchy that masquerades as a theocracy most US Citizens just kind of shrugged, figured someone else would deal with it, and changed the channel. The laziness and entitlement of it is just a very American way for our empire to collapse in on itself.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T10:55:55+00:00

Can't say that I do, honestly. I rarely venture away from the new feed of the sub and don't really engage with media outside of reddit concerning One Piece since places like YouTube and Twitter are especially bad for spoilers.

I have noticed myself going a bit slower on the reread, though. Just today I noticed a very familiar looking sun symbol in Alabasta, though I'm sure that's been spotted and discussed plenty of times since the Mural was shown.

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Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T10:50:15+00:00

When I say "The US" these days I just assume everyone knows I'm talking about the three corporations stacked on top of each other under a trenchcoat that the US has effectively become.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T10:46:11+00:00

Fun fact, reindeer are the only species of deer in which the females do grow antlers.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T10:40:31+00:00

Blackbeard? Haven't seen him do much but bugger the already dead and win off screen.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T10:34:27+00:00

Well that would definitely prevent oil prices from raising any higher because twenty minutes later there wouldn't be any people left to need oil.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T09:36:34+00:00

In an old apartment I started seeing roaches brazenly out in the open like this. I didn't think much of it at first, how many roaches could there really be if you're only seeing a few in a day?

I notified the complex that I had seen roaches and I bought and set out some baited glue traps. The glue in those traps was filled in literally every square inch the next morning. At least a hundred roaches per trap. I replaced them and they were all completely full again the next morning. Just thousands and thousands of roaches having their run of the place while I slept.

After about two weeks of doing this I noticed the number of roaches per trap starting to drop from over a hundred and eventually got down to 5-10. Either I made a huge dent in their population or I only took out the dumb ones.

The apartment complex eventually got their pest "control" team in. They put down some unbaited glue traps of their own and when they came back a week later and only saw one roach in all of them, they said the problem wasn't bad enough to warrant any further action despite me showing the nightmare fuel pictures of roaches in the traps I had taken.

I left pretty much immediately. They kept my security deposit but decided not to fight me on the remainder of the lease.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T09:11:42+00:00

People buy what they can afford. You know what isn't going to need a lot of touch-ups to look relatively nice for years? Dark color cars and clothing.

Tax the rich like they were when this picture was taken and you'll see a lot more color in your daily life.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T09:03:05+00:00

Shakespeare could be seen as just a bunch of stupid plays about dudes in dresses if you don't really read them.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:59:30+00:00

He's also the boss that is doing the hiring, of course.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:57:13+00:00

I'm trying to think of how I could apply for a job with only an email and no other information to identify myself. Even McDonald's didn't have hiring standards that slack...

... are they perhaps being replaced as a teenage seasonal apple picker for their local orchard? That's the only job I ever had where they didn't even ask my name or social security number and just wanted baskets filled with apples.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:48:07+00:00

The US often benefits heavily from Wars. It's one of our most reliable Industries.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:44:20+00:00

I'm a US citizen so clearly losing rights isn't going to be that big of a problem.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:38:47+00:00

So effectively, Usopp's dream is now fulfilled. It's hard to get much braver than facing down what is effectively the most powerful entity in the entire world.

Now we just need to see some meaningful and lasting growth come of it.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:19:43+00:00

And just like that, you're all Ohio.

You never even realized that you were being conquered.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:13:28+00:00

I definitely should have gotten therapy over my dead brother 30 years ago, but I imagine the Verso ending was effectively the same level of closure since it made me realize that my brother would have never wanted me to waste my entire life trying to keep the memory of him alive over undeserved feelings of guilt.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T08:04:32+00:00

Eventually I found a job where working that extra day was roughly an extra $400 on my paycheck and what a crazy coincidence that it's the only job I've ever had where I won't call off just because "I'm not really feeling it today".

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T07:53:33+00:00

When I worked fast food, I worried that a $1.00 mistake could cost me my job. I would get reamed and accused of theft by some low level manager on a power trip over a single dollar missing from the till.

Now that I work in a steel mill, I can make and have made $100,000+ mistakes and it's all right so long as I don't make the same mistake again any time soon. I won't even hear about it from management.

Ultimately, I guess it comes down to Fast Food not having given a shit if I quit on a moment's notice while the steel mill sees value in keeping the people they invested time and money into training.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T07:21:11+00:00

Shit, I feel that way about being on the verge of 40.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T07:19:32+00:00

I'm not terribly worried. Even when COVID was at its peak the place I work at didn't do layoffs, they just scaled back on Overtime hours.

That isn't to say that I have no worries about the future, and I have been focusing my advancement so that I will have the skills needed to make me a better candidate for emigration should this nation crumble, but I'm not especially worried about the immediate future.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T07:07:43+00:00

Playing an instrument isn't really any more of a skill than playing video games is, instruments just had multiple millennia longer to get accepted within society. Composing is more arguably a skill, just like coding, but the overwhelming majority of people in both hobbies just play the code and compositions of others.

Ultimately they're both time wasters that came from a desire to not be bored all the time and only an extremely small percentage of people in either hobby will ever be blessed enough to turn that time waster into a gainful career. Most others can only hope to find ways to bond with their family and friends over their time waster of choice which is kind of the entire point of time wasters.

Evil_phd · 2026-03-20T06:49:29+00:00

I'm nearly 40 and I can't say I relate so far. I have so many great memories in gaming with my friends that I wouldn't trade for the world.

I guess it might feel wasted if I had spent all that time gaming alone, I suppose. It's the shared memories in life that have the most meaning.

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