User blog comment:Rfldsza/THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF SHIP OF FOOLS!!!/@comment-4080028-20160318061120

Man, this is exactly what I needed to see after feeling a little down in the dumps tonight. ^_^ Rfl, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reminding us of this wondrous milestone we've passed as a community.

And I can't stretch the community aspect enough. I still remember back in 2011, 5 years ago, when I first joined this wiki. It was June 18th, so I had joined roughly half a year after the wiki's grand opening, making me 20 at the time and just 2 years into being interested in One Piece (as I had first gave it a serious try when I was only 18 or so.) I recall that I was in the biggest, most boring rut of my life due to having no job at the time and still being out of school due to personal reasons I shall not mention here. Every day was so dull and full of time to kill, I sometimes wanted to rip my own hair out. Then one day, when browsing One Piece Wiki due to my growing interest in One Piece, I saw Ship of Fools Wiki advertised on a side bar of one of the wiki's pages. While at first I didn't give much attention to it, it steadily drew me in with its promise of sharing awesoe ideas and stories with fellow One Piece fans.

A little after that, I was hooked and began trying to become a part of this wiki. Hell, this place is the very reason why I have my own email address, as we all need one to sign in and I had never bothered to have one till then. After that, the rest was history. I started off thinking I was going to be ignored in favor of the more established users and that I wasn't going to matter in the slightest around here, but that was OK to me because all I wanted to do was share my few small ideas I had for One Piece characters; the Ika Bounty Hunters (at the time being Ika, Anne, Tora and a doctor named Endo,) and a newly forming character I had in mind at the time, a certain self-insert everyone nowadays knows as Jolly D. Chris.

At first, this wiki was only an attempt to kill time and help me spend whole days until I gew bored and moved on to something else of interest. And yes, while at first adding pages and trying to write stories and collabs was fun for me, I never saw myself as doing this for 5 years, let alone a single year! Heh, I also remember how awkward I was as a new user at the time too. In my attempt to create Jolly D. Chris' page, I accidentally destroyed the Character Layout page beyond repair and got FMF pretty pissed off in the process. Good thing I claimed guilty of the act and relied on Ferno's support, or else who knows what our evil mastermind would have done to me?

And yet, despite my mistakes and my short-lived care in writing up pages and articles, I made incredibly strong, long-lasting friendships here that would stand the test of time. I had joined in what I think I'll call the "summer flood of 2011," when plenty of new users were boarding our ship alongside me, such as Senshi-chan (at the time, she was known simply as Roronoa Senshi,) 13th madman, and of course, our own AppatheGreat (or should I say, UndeadHero.) I had already begun befriending people such as Mr. Rumble (AKA Red falcon Randy, my very first friend on this wiki,) had discovered I had an awesome British clone, became enlisted in Generalzer0's army as his underling, and had done so much more.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE became my beloved, trusted nakama here. And thanks to each and every one of you being such upstanding, supporting, loving, loyal and trusting friends to me, I grew to love this community as a 2nd home of sorts. Thus finally getting to the point I wanted to make earlier: It's thanks to this wiki's collection of users, its community, why I'm still here today and why I still dedicate myself to my writing. After all, what good's a story if you have no one around to tell it to? I sincerely, genuinely love all of you from the bottom of my heart and want to thank you all for these wonderful, challenging and enlightening 5 years. You've all given me a reason to smile and live on when I'd much rather die, you've all taught me new things and helped me grow as a person, and you all were there when I simply needed help or someone to have fun with. While recently, my nasty temper has caused me to grow incredibly impatient with a small handful of users here, I don't regret a single thing I've gone through on this wiki so far. I love the vast majority of users here, you're all my friends, and so if I see ANY of you mistreating each other, I WILL take cation. =_= ...Maybe... ...Hopefully... ...Perhaps... >_>

Anyway...!

There's just so much that comes to mind when I think back on these 5 years, and much of it has already been said by the comments below mine. While we have indeed lost some dearly loved crew mates over the years, it only makes me cherish the lot of you that remain even more. ^_^ Thanks for staying by my side and being a part of this wiki with me. While I continue to see little value in the world around me, where only darkness and suffering exists, each and every one of you has been an individual ray of light that pierces that darkness and gives me renewed hope for humanity, life and for msyelf.

Here's to Ship of Fools' 5th anniversary and all the wonderful adventures our crew has gone through since it was formed, even despite some harrowing experiences such as the aforementioned fear of the ship sinking for good. And even more so, here's to all of us for making this ship feel like home to one another, and for being the best of friends.

KANPAI!!! :D

...

Chris: HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!! Don't leave us out of the party!! This is our home too!!

Kris: YEAH! WHAT THE IDIOT SAID!

Chris: YEAH! WHAT THE IDIOT...! ... HEY!! SHUT THE HELL UP, STUPID!! [slaps Kris upside the head]

Ika: While some of us are still under heavy construction despite these long 5 years... [gives Wyvern a dirty look]

Me: Leave me alone... <_<

Ika: I'm still glad to see how far each of us has come since our creation, or rather, "birth" if you'd prefer. I still remember back when Wyvern intended for me to be a mix between a Saiyan, a Kirigakure / Mist Village ninja and member of the "Seven Swordsmen of the Mist," and still be a bounty hunter and captain of this Ika Bounty Hunter crew of mine.

Me: HEY!! Don't go rifling through my top secret files of all of you!! You can't just break through the 4th wall like this!!

Ika (ignoring Wyv): Indeed, we have come a very long way...

Me: You guys are still jerks... -_-

Veronica: I suppose I'll join this celebration too. I can't exactly keep my eyes off of these three anyway.

Ika: Speak for yourself, Valkyrie.

Hanuman: Hanuman get mentioned somewhere in bottom comments! Hanuman here for fans! Hanuman happy to be alive!

Chris: Yeah!!

Me: I SAID NO BREAKING THE...! ...Gah, whatever, you guys are just gonna do whatever you want anyway. -_-+

Sakura: Speaking of fan favorites, I suppose I shall make my cameo here too. Here's to our wonderful world we all share. May it continue to last for generations to come.

Mona: :D Yeah, you said it, sister!! WHOO! PLay the music and get the food ready! I'll show you runts how to really party!

Hanuman: Yeah!! Hanuman get food ready!! Hanuman make best food!!

Anne: As if; anything a pirate can do, a true professional cook can do better.

Flambe: +_+ I'll accept that challenge! Not only will my food be delicious, but I'll make the best show you've ever seen! It'll outshine your run-of-the-mill cooking!

Wyatt: Or burn down the entire wiki... -_-;

Bach: And while they provide the food, I shall help provide the music! Allow me and my 12 arms to send you on a musical journey!

Reis: Yeah, like, I'm totally joining in, ya know?! We're gonna so like rock this place! [strums her guitar in anticipation]

Shinku: Ooh! Ooh! And I'll sing! ^_^

Chris: No one brings a party like we do!! :D

Shitenno: YEAH~!!!

Wy: Argh, as noisy as always... I just wanna nap... >_<

Angelica: If ya need some noise control, I s'pose I can handle da situation for ya. But only if ya can pay for mah services, capiche?

Wy: [groans] I don't want to make any shady dealings with you, Angelica. How 'bout a rain check?

Angelica: Dat ain't how I do business, ya bum. -_-

Bram (hanging upside down from the ceiling): Well it seems everyone has been gathered into position at last. Now all we must do is wait for the correct time to pounce on our prey and claim victory over evil.

Garde: Indeed; excellent work as always, Rear Admiral.

Bram: Why of course! The art of stealth and recon is a long-standing Nos family tradition! None surpass us!

Chance (drunk): Shushushushushushu!! You guys are too damn serious! While we have nothing better to do than to wait to make our move on those pirate bastards, we should live up the festivities while we can! We have good food, fine drinks and all the hottest women in the world gathered into one place! Man, what an awesome anniversary party!

Benzaiten: Uggh, Commander Chance, please try to control yourself. You're embarrassing the Lucky Streak Division in front of our peers. -_-

Chance: Aww, lighten up, baby! It's a party!

Benzaiten: YEAH, I GOT THAT ALREADY!

Chance: Soo, Garde, you still single?

Garde (disgusted and ignoring Chance): Ugh...

Benzaiten (embarrassed): Commander!! >.<

Francis (AKA No Beard): Joririririri!! It's a good thing we made it just in time, ay?!

Lo: Fufufufufu! I agree, it'd have been a crying shame if we couldn't be here to celebrate too. After all, this place is as much our home as is it anyone else's.

Manson: Not to mention we deserve to be a part of this awesome party. It's our God given right to enjoy our lives to the fullest, so if anyone keeps us from doing that, we'll just have to kill 'em in the name of divine justice.

Set: Gaaah, enough of being a kill joy, Manson! This is an anniversary party, not some Bible study class! Just shut your trap and have some fun already!

Manson: What was that, you blasphemous heathen?!

Set: You heard me loud and clear, party pooper!

[the two then press their heads against each other's in an angry, frustrated fashion as they snarl at one another]

Lo: Oh honestly you two. There's no need to be fighting amongst each. Just relax and take in all the excitement... [she then takes out her copy of The Bounty Book and starts reading it again]

Manson and Set: SO SAYS THE BOOK WORM!!

Lo (seductively brushes her hair with her hand): Can I help it if I'm a bit book-ish? <3 [gives Manson and Set an equally seductive look]

Manson and Set (blushing and speechless): Um... uh...

Francis / No Beard: Joriririririri!! She's right though! For now, let's just eat, drink and be merry! The world is our home AND ours for the taking! So let's just go wild and enjoy ourselves! Here's to this Ship of Fools place for giving us a base of operations to work from!

No Beard Pirates (except Francis / No Beard): AYE CAPTAIN! KANPAI!!

Shitenno: HEY, SHUT UP OVER THERE YOU ASS*****!! NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE!!

Francis / No Beard (laughing off the Shitenno's insults): Joririririririririririri!! Joririririririririririri!!

Chris: I really really hate that guy. -_-+

Ika: Agreed. -_-+

Me: <_<; Um, so with all that said, uh...

...KANPAI!! HERE'S TO OUR SHIP OF FOOLS' 5TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! LONG MAY WE SAIL THE ONLINE SEAS!