Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief

“Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.” The very first time I heard of this book was during my days in 2^nd year high school. I heard it was about the Greek gods, which I actually don’t admire at first, but I tried and dared to read the book. That was even the first book that I’ve actually finished and that was the very first time that I felt satisfaction after reading.

Now, through this Reading Log, I got the chance to experience the life of being a demigod once again. And I would gladly share it to everyone who will visit this blog.

Percy’s life was full of questions. Almost all of us can relate to that. We all have these questions in our minds that are only waiting for the right answer. And each question has its own degree of difficulty. Unfortunately for Percy, he has to live a life while asking about the whereabouts of his own biological father. But the answer came to him in perfect timing and in the most dramatic style anyone can ever imagine.

But even with those questions already answered for Percy, it unveils not only happiness for him, but it also stirs up all kinds of negativities in his life. Again, almost every one of us had experienced this. One of your questions was answered, and then more came in. But we cannot run from it. That is the reality of this world, bad things really never end. We just have to keep fighting.

In a way, each one of us can be Percy in our own different stories. We can lead our friends to places where they will meet the true meaning of life, as what Percy has done, and we can live life while enjoying the world besides all problems that co-exist with us in this place. The only difference is that we don’t need a magical pen like Riptide, or we don’t need a Greek god as our parent, we just have to act as our original selves. We just need something to push us to keep going.

Remember that Percy didn’t choose to be a hero; Remember that he didn’t even wanted to become a camper at Camp Half-Blood. But he has to, in order to try and save his mother. And that’s what kept him going. Anything can act as our motivation. We don’t have to see someone we love getting hurt for us to act accordingly. Even the smallest thing that we could imagine may help us. We all have those factors, factors that if we successfully met, may change us, or if we fail, may shatter us. But the question is, can we withstand those factors? The answer should be no other than YES, because if we don’t, we will never be able to win our battles. Percy tried even if it means fighting with the god of war, and mind you, he won his battle, not only with Ares, but he won his battle in trying to save his mother.

Now going back to the story, Percy was able to withstand the negative forces around him. But, until when? Until when will those negativities haunt him? There are still 4 books in the series waiting for Percy, and can he withstand repeated pressures and trials? Again and again, we can relate to this. We all have this feeling wherein we felt satisfaction for ourselves then we thought of, “Will those bad things ever come back?” or “Is that the last wave of bad things?” Fortunately, Percy was able to grab help. And he got the most priceless prize he could have. He got his mother back.

But the thing that really caught me, is that why Luke, of all the people in the camp, will ever betray them? What’s with his mind? And, where did he even go after leaving Percy alone with that killer scorpion? Luke has been a bona fide camper. Luke has been a good friend. Only to revealed, that he was just acting? Why? Does he lose his fate to the gods? Or even to his dad, Hermes? Things were just getting started.

The first book was just a great brain teaser for every reader. I know more great adventures and even more life-ending situations lie ahead for Percy and his friends, I just hope, the gods will guide him. And that Percy will be able to enjoy the life of being a normal person after all battles that will face. And that he don't get smashed alive because of a somewhat cold war between his dad and his uncle, the King of Olympus.

 (Phew. Tough battle if ever. Sky against the Sea. Then suddenly, Underworld comes along to join the party. *sigh* Tough life, Percy. A very tough life.)

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For the 2nd part of this activity, I decided to try and mush up the worlds of Demigods, and Pirates, from the anime, One Piece.

On a bright sunny morning, Percy Jackson found himself lying below a huge oak tree. He didn’t recognize the whole place. He even doesn’t have any idea as to when and how he got there. He stood up and found out that the oak tree was perched on top of a cliff and below was the sea, which he thought of as a good sign. Being the only recognized mortal son of the Greek sea god Poseidon, seeing the sea was a relief for Percy. He jumped off the top of the cliff (Yes, literal, J-U-M-P) and seek help from any naiads he could probably ask for. But nothing happened. Percy decided to go back to the shore and continued exploring the whole place.

               

“What is this place? Where am I?” he said to himself as he stepped out of the water.

“Are you lost?” a voice from behind him said.

               

Percy immediately turned and uncapped Riptide, his pen. Normally, when he does that, Riptide would turn into a bronze celestial sword, but it didn’t happen. He ends up pointing his pen to two guys standing just about 5-feet away from him.

 “What the hell is going on?” he muttered.

Blackleg Sanji

           “Yeah?, And you should be the one to answer that. What’s with that pen?” the first guy asked him. At first look, this guy seems normal. He wore plain black coat, plain black slacks, and plain black shoes. The only thing that is not black with this guy is his hair, which was blonde, and his cigarette tucked in between his lips. His hair was shoved downwards revealing only one eye.

“Sanji, we should bring him,” the other guy spoke. This one must be a warrior type kind of person. Why? He only has three katanas tied on his side. Plain normal peace-keeping type of person. “He’s just a kid,” he continued.

This guy wore tight white shirt and dark green trousers. But the most intriguing part is why he kept three katanas with him. It’s normal seeing person with two katanas, but three? How would he use that?

The guy referred to as Sanji, looked at Percy from head to foot and spit his cigarette out of his mouth. “You’re right, Zoro. Let’s bring him,” Sanji said.

“Uhm, excuse me?” Percy said. “I guess you’re talking about me? Well I’m not going with you! I don’t even know who you guys are.”

“You wanna know this place, right?” Zoro asked. “And you wanna go back to where you come from? Then go with us. We own that ship.” he pointed to a ship across the middle of the sea.

“Oh gods, you must be,..”

“We’re pirates.” Sanji interrupted. “C’mon!” as he leap into the sea and swam his way to the ship. He was an amazing swimmer. He only uses his feet with his hands on his pockets.

“I can do better.” Percy mumbled as he summons a small tidal wave and rode on top of it and made his way to the ship.

Zoro jumped into the wave a hitched a free ride. “How did you do that?” Zoro asked.

“Hmp.” Percy smirked. “Pirates wouldn’t understand.”

On the ship, Percy saw more weird looking guys. He saw Sanji messing up with a blue-nosed reindeer whom he call Chopper. Zoro on the other side of the ship was sleeping but his katanas were still on his side.

 A lady came near to Percy and offered a drink.

“Hey. I’m Nami.” the lady said. “I already called for our captain. He’s on his way to meet you. He will be glad to meet someone like you who controls the sea. You know, were pirates, and with someone controlling the sea on our side, that will be a great help.”

                “I am not going to help a bunch of weird looking strangers.” Percy said and turned around. As Percy was looking into the horizon, a smaller boat appeared and it seems like that boat was on its way to the pirate ship. Aboard was two more guys, one huge-bulky person, which is more like a cyborg, and one very slim guy with a straw-hat.

                “They’re here.” Nami said.

                Percy then noticed the coiled rope ladder and dropped it to the smaller boat.

                “They won’t need that.” Nami said.

                “What do you mean?” Percy asked.

Monkey D' Luffy

As soon as the rope ladder was dropped, Percy heard someone yelling: ‘Gomu, gomu.’ What surprised Percy is that when he looked down, the very slim guy actually stretched his arms from below and reached the edge of the pirate ship. He then pulled himself up and catapulted straight into the edge of the ship. And just like that, he was already standing in front of Percy. Percy noticed the smaller boat sailing back into the horizon.

              

"Hey, Nami!” the slim guy shouted. “Give me some meat!”

“Luffy!” the reindeer, Chopper, shouted.

“Whoah!!!” Percy jumped in surprise as he heard the reindeer speak. “WHAT THE HECK IS THIS PLACE !!”

              

“Who are you?” the slim guy, Luffy, turned to Percy and asked. “Why are you on my ship?”

“Luffy, he’s a guy from out of nowhere.” Sanji said.

 “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Percy said. “Thank you for that.”

               

                Percy looked straight into the eyes of this guy named Luffy. He must be the captain of this ship. He must be strong, “I need help.” He then said.

                “Help?”

                “Yes.:” Percy answered. “I woke up and found myself in this place. Where am I?”

             “You’re in East Blue. Place of the famous Pirates in the history.” Luffy said. “And I’m Luffy, and I’m gonna be the pirate king!”

                “Where is that? I’ve never heard of ‘East Blue’.” Percy said.

“Hmp.” Percy didn’t recognize Zoro was awake until he spoke up. “Guys like you wouldn’t understand.”

“You were all pirates right?” Percy asked. “Then why are you – “

Percy’s words were interrupted because the whole ship was shaking.

“What was that?” Percy asked.

Without a word, Luffy stretched his arms and reached for the top of the sail. He pulled himself up and stand on top of the sails. Zoro and Sanji jumped out of the ship and straight into sea.

“Watch and learn, Percy.” Chopper the reindeer said.

Percy saw a huge kraken below the ship. He could see straight into the sea even up to the sea bed below. Perks of being a son of a sea god.

“I can help!” he shouted. But it seems like nobody was listening to him.

Percy then noticed someone at the back of the kraken. It was Sanji who was like sizing up the whole thing. He then pulled up his sleeves and swan deeper into the sea going below the kraken. Then as soon as Sanji stepped foot on the deepest part of the ocean, he kicked himself up and gained amazing speed up going straight to the belly of the kraken. He then kicked the kraken out of the water displaying its massive size. It was even bigger than the pirate ship.

Roronoa Zoro

As the kraken was on full display mid-air, Luffy gears up for an even more massive punch. His arm grew larger as if his body was made up of rubber. The punch hit the face of the kraken and it was senr flying into the shore where Zoro was already waiting. And from then on, Percy saw how Zoro used his three katanas, one on each hand, and the other on his mouth. Zoro jumped into the air, and met up with the kraken. But before he could really slice the kraken, assuming he can really slice it down, Percy quickly summoned another huge wave and pushed the kraken away from Zoro’s piercing katanas.

“Oh!! What was that!!” Luffy jumped down the sails and confronted Percy. “How did you do that?”

“I’m a demigod, I’m a son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.” Percy said. “And I don’t enjoy seeing you hurt that innocent beast.”

“But that was food!!” Luffy shouted and he immediately collapsed.

“It’s normal.” Nami appeared and dragged Luffy into the nearest chair. “He hasn’t eaten meat for days now. And that is his favorite. Anyway, I saw the whole thing. How you summon that wave, and it was great. I can see you have no intentions of going against us. And I bet your friends are already looking for someone as great as you are. Never mind our captain. He’s usually like that. And let me give you this.” She handed Percy a hand-drawn map. “I’ve been navigating for almost my entire life now, but I’ve got to say the place you said just gave me pretty hard times. But I found it anyway and I decided to draw it. You can use that on your way back to your camp. I was able to link our worlds together and you can now travel back.” She explained.

Both Zoro and Sanji was already on the ship as Percy summoned another wave.

“You guys were great. Nice foot strength, Sanji. And you’re great with that swordsmanship technique, Zoro. Teach me next time we meet, okay?” Percy said as he jumped into the wave.

“You demigod will never understand.” Zoro smiled and held his swords up. “Good luck, Percy.”

Percy uncapped his pen and finally, it turned into a sword. He smiled and navigated the wave and made his way back to Camp Half-Blood.

Percy Jackson and Monkey D’ Luffy’s meeting would be great for fans of both the Percy Jackson series and One Piece. With Luffy’s crew sailing the seas, and with Percy being the son of the sea god Poseidon, the two would be the best tag team the entire ocean may meet. Luffy’s weird ‘danger-seeking’ personality and with his friends’ “WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE” status, it may cause them more trouble, but both of these guys love trouble, or should I say adventure. Percy’s bloodline (the gods, titans, other demigods, & etc) may give them headaches, but both of these guys have already withstood tough battles. With Percy already beating one of the gods, and that god was even Ares himself, the Greek god of war, and with Luffy being able to survive the War of the Bests, where the best pirates fought against the best admirals of the navy, the two will be very tough. Both of them can even protect one another from their weaknesses. Luffy’s weakness is water, (it may sound weird being a pirate but not being able to swim, but that is the reality for him) but Percy is good at manipulating the sea, so no problem for Luffy. Percy’s weakness on the other hand, is his family, specially his mother. But with Luffy’s passionate heart to his friends, Percy will worry no more.

If you’re a fan of both of their stories, you will understand what I’m trying to say. But if you’ve never heard of a guy named Percy Jackson, or the young pirate Monkey D’ Luffy, then you’re already missing a great part of the great stories about adventures and friends, and stories about defying the odds, that this world can offer. Go grab your own copies of both stories. Both are available for FREE online!! (Ebooks for Percy Jackson Series, and Online Mangas for One Piece) Hurry! Let me tell you, you’ll never regret them afterwards. :D