L'Arcfumi

"We just met, but I can tell that much. I can tell you're not a bad guy, kiddo"

- L'Arc, upon meeting Naofumi for the first time, Chapter 35, Episode 22

L'Arcfumi is the slash ship between L'Arc Berg Sickle and Naofumi Iwatani from the The Rising of the Shield Hero fandom.

Canon
Naofumi meets L'Arc on the ship to the Cal Mira Islands, with the latter overenthusiastically inviting the ravenette into his cabin. Naofumi introduces himself, but L'Arc doesn't believe that Naofumi could really be The Naofumi Iwatani, because he had heard that the shield hero was an evil person. With that, he says that even though they had just met, he could tell that Naofumi wasn't a bad guy. L'Arc invites Naofumi to level up together because fate put them in the same cabin, and Naofumi agrees after a bit of persuasion.

Naofumi's group meets L'Arc and Therese again when they're setting off for their second day of adventure. L'Arc confides in him that the four holy heroes were on the island, and fills him in on what each hero was doing.

During an adventuring session in which Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo stayed out later than usual, L'Arc and Therese came out to specifically look for them. He claims that he was worried for them because he didn't want any of his friends to die. They arrive back at the ship and L'Arc cheers a glass of beer to their safe return. He catches Naofumi on the side of the festivities, and talk a bit. They see Motoyasu try out a fruit that Naofumi had been eating for a while, and the spear hero promptly passes out from one bite due to the strong potency of the fruit.

The next day, L'Arc goes looking for Naofumi again to invite him on a group-leveling trip. On the boat to their destination, they discuss their levels, tactics, as well as their stop. Naofumi dictates the roles; he grabs the enemies, while everyone else attacks them. Naofumi seems surprised by the fact that L'Arc can use his scythe to absorb the EXP into his weapon, since he had thought only the four holy heroes could do that. He then wonders if there are more heroes other than Melomarc's. At the end of the day, L'Arc and Naofumi congratulate each other on their fighting, and plan to meet up again.

Naofumi offers for L'Arc and Therese to join his party, but is turned down. Apparently, after that, the group stopped bumping into L'Arc and Therese for whatever reason.

During the third wave, Naofumi grins when he spots L'Arc and Therese on the bow of a ship, helping to fight against the wave as well. L'Arc sees Naofumi struggling against the giant whale, and jumps off the ship in order to give him a hand.When Naofumi looks up, he sees the man attacking it with powerful slices, easily killing it. He praises L'Arc's ability, as the L'Arc comments, "It must be frustrating, right, kiddo? ...Being unable to defeat trash like this on your own as the shield. Despite being so ridiculously strong!" Naofumi accepts that as a compliment from him, but when he reaches over to shake his hand, L'Arc has a dark look in his eyes. He smirks as the holy heroes arrive, calling them weak. Naofumi realizes L'Arc isn't on their side, just as the man forces his scythe down on Naofumi.

L'Arc swings his weapon down, but Naofumi shields it. He angrily shouts aloud why he had to be betrayed again, and pushes the scythe away with his shield. The redhead cheerfully explains that he had to kill the holy heroes of this world in order to save his own world. The fight wasn't personal but he hoped that Naofumi would give it his all. Naofumi proves to be able to withstand a lightning flash, and L'Arc nods, as if impressed. Their attacks start getting more and more violent, with L'Arc managing to injure Naofumi once. During the midst of the battle, Naofumi realizes that although they are enemies, he just couldn't bring himself to hate the man. Speaking to an unrevealed person, L'Arc said that the only reaThe scythe-user and Therese are revealed Glass's partners, someone that had attacked the four holy heroes before.

They're both smirking as they continue their fight, just as Naofumi entraps L'Arc in his shield prison. L'Arc complains when Glass stops him from fighting Naofumi, but Glass ignores him and tells him to take care of the other fighters.

In the Spirit Turtle Arc, Naofumi learns about the Seven Star Heroes, and wonders if L'Arc might be one. As his group is traversing the caverns, he meets a group of three adventurers who at first seem to be lost. Raphtalia uncovers their disguises, revealing the trio of vassal weapon holders. Naofumi shows extreme surprise at seeing his former friend in the turtle's body. Naofumi tries to stop them, but they escape.

Once the rescue group finally makes their way down to the core of the turtle, they encounter another vassal weapon holder, this time specializing in books. Naofumi automatically concludes that he must be comrades with L'Arc, but is met with repulsion at that thought. Suddenly, everyone is engulfed in flames, yet only the familiars are harmed. L'Arc, Therese, and Glass emerge from the flames, openly berating the unnamed mastermind for taking things too far.

Naofumi, behind them, calls out L'Arc's name in bewilderment, and the latter smiles and thanks to him for figuring out the path beforehand. L'Arc faces the mastermind, Kyou (the name is still yet to be revealed at this point in time), and pledges to defeat him. Yet one of Kyou's familiars knocks the trio into the wall, and the he summons a flaming bird to attack them. When the smoke clears, Naofumi is standing in front of them, protecting them with his shield. L'Arc shouts out happily for his savior, but Naofumi dismisses him and says they're only teaming for now, until Kyou was defeated. The redhead explains that because it wasn't a wave, he wouldn't be able to use the full power of his scythe. Naofumi asks if they'll be okay, albeit with a sarcastic undertone.

Kyou ends up escaping back into his world, and L'Arc begins to follow him. Before he leaves, he apologizes to Naofumi for causing trouble and jumps into the portal. Naofumi reaches out to him in indignation but is shocked backward.

In another world, L'Arc was transported to a spot along with Raphtalia, Therese, and Glass. They're captured by the guards, and L'Arc shouts in frustration because he doesn't know what's happening to Naofumi. At the same time, Naofumi learns about the legends of the 'worlds' in the one he's been transported to. He remembers how L'Arc insisted on a fair battle between the two of them to decide a victor.

Just as Naofumi is about to be attacked on all sides by five Byokko tigers, L'Arc interferes and cuts off all their heads with his scythe. Naofumi is surprised yet again by his friend's intervention, not expecting to see L'Arc here.

After Kizuna's first wave, they come to the conclusion that the different worlds may not need to be destroyed in order to stop the waves. Naofumi laughs at Glass's passionate expression when talking about what she needs to protect, and says that it's more reasonable than being told "die because our world needs to survive". Therese hisses to L'Arc that he's being told off as well, and he blushes sheepishly, claiming that he also had things he wanted to protect. L'Arc seems relieved when they realize this, attempting to apologize to Naofumi for trying to kill him. He extends a hand of camaraderie, but Naofumi excuses it, saying that he would've probably done the same thing if their roles were switched. All that he asks for is cooperation from the scythe wielder. L'Arc accepts these terms, and they begin to plan to take back what Kyou stole.

Moments

 * In a chapter extra, Naofumi is soaking in a hot tub when the other three heroes drive him out. As he's returning, he meets L'Arc and the ravenette suggests for him to come back later because the men are trying to peep on the girls. Hearing this, L'Arc attempts to bring Naofumi to peep as well, but the latter refuses.

Quotes
"You sure have it tough, shield. Let me give you a hand hero."

- L'Arc helping Naofumi, Chapter 39

"I like you Naofumi. So let's do this fair and square!"

- L'Arc before attacking Naofumi, Chapter 40

"He's just the type L'Arc likes to fight."

- Glass, commenting about Naofumi's abilities, Chapter 41

"We caused you a lot of trouble, . . . Sorry about that."

- L'Arc to Naofumi, before leaving, Chapter 62

Fanon
L'Arcfumi is a small ship in the fandom that doesn't have a lot of popularity. Since L'Arc turned out to be the enemy, people think that they would be seen as more of rivals than friends. Raphumi is Naofumi's most popular ship, while most people tend to ship L'Arc with Therese. Some people also like Motofumi, the ship between Motoyasu and Naofumi.

The idea of their friendship-turned-enemies lead to some angst storylines, where L'Arc betrays Naofumi. Trusting someone and then being backstabbed again seems to be something that triggers Naofumi, and some people reason that's why the two aren't a good ship. Happier stories have them working together in a team, like the betrayal never happened- usually in AUs or set before the Wave of Destruction when they were still good friends. People think they could've been a great duo in another world, if only their roles were different.

For people that follow the manga, L'Arc ends up reconciling with Naofumi in the Spirit Turtle Arc, and the animosity that was directed on him for betraying Naofumi mostly evaporated. They have saved each other on multiple occasions, both before and after the betrayal.

Naofumi's personality is more strict, but upon meeting L'Arc, he loosened up slightly. L'Arc comes off as more of the flirty type, and slightly airheaded, while Naofumi could be seen as a tsundere. Because L'Arc's first impression of Naofumi was that he was a good person, he didn't believe that he was the "evil shield hero" at first. Working together, they are a formidable duo. Both Naofumi and L'Arc have said that they enjoy fighting each other. L'Arc seems to genuinely believe that Naofumi is a good person, but this doesn't stop him from attempting to kill him for his own world.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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Trivia

 * L'Arc called Naofumi "kiddo" at first because he assumed Naofumi was younger than him. Even after Naofumi corrects him, he continues to use the nickname.
 * He also calls him "sonny" and "kid", but this may just be a translation difference.
 * Naofumi is 20 years old, while L'Arc's age is unconfirmed, though likely around 20 too.
 * As they're sharing their levels, Naofumi is at level 63. L'Arc is on level 56.
 * L'Arc managed to be one of the only people that Naofumi genuinely trusted, but he ended up betraying him as well.
 * They reconciled, and are now friends.