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zibus · 2 months

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Since it seems that Egghead is coming to a close soon(ish?), I've been thinking about what themes from the arc might be able to clue us in to what's coming for Elbaf (and perhaps the rest of the Final Saga). Oda often uses a short arc to set up not just the plot, but also themes for the saga to come. My favorite example is Long Ring Long Land planting the seeds of "what if we lost a crew member" before Water 7 and Ennnies Lobby.

In addition, all of the post-timeskip arcs have had important parallel themes and often plot payoffs to pre-skip arcs. Fishman Island -> East Blue (specifically Arlong Park). Dressrossa -> Alabasta(warlord takeover) & Skypia(Noland & being forgotten). Whole Cake -> Water 7/Ennies Lobby. Wano -> Thriller Bark is the weakest, but all of the ideas of night and Luffy bringing the dawn is super prevalent, Moria is the first person to give us details about Kaido, and we meet Rayuma's zombie.

So following that parallel, the Final Saga parallels Summit War, which, duh. But still, maybe we can pull some information and thoughts other than that there will be a war at the end of it.

Looking at Egghead, there's a big theme of hidden identities. There's some of this with Kuma, but of course its most prevalent with the Vegapunks. Each of the satellites can be thought of as a "mask" of Vegapunk's, and Vegapunk himself is revealed to be an ally when we probably expected him to be antagonistic. There are traitors on both sides with Stussy and York.

This idea of identity is also closely tied to loyalty. Vegapunk's disloyalty to the World Government vs. Kizaru. Stussy vs. York. Kuma's (and the Pacifistas') loyalty towards Bonney. Off the island itself, you get Aikanu vs. Garp and their loyalties, as well as the idea of Sword as a special force within the Navy.

Looking at Marineford, we get a lot about sacrifice with Whitebeard, Oars, and Ace. This is tied to the pacing of the torch from the old era to the new, with Blackbeard sweeping in to claim the top spot from Whitebeard. We also get a ton about family, especially found family and Luffy's family with Garp and Ace (and Sabo). And, of course, there's the war.

So how might these themes and ideas play out in Elbaf?

Well with the themes of identities, we've been told the current prince of the Elbaf giants is named Loki, obviously named after the god of trickery and lies from Norse myth which the Elbaf giants are heavily inspired by. The only other thing we know about Prince Loki is that he fell in love with Charlotte Lola but she turned him down. The presence of Loki, combined with the theme of hidden identities tells me all is not as it seems on Elbaf. When we arrive, someone or someones are not going to be who they say they are. Most likely there will be something related to Loki himself, but there's another possibility.

This idea is not original to me, but besides Loki, who's the most iconic Norse god? Thor, the god of lightning. And which character we haven't seen in a while has the powers of lightning? Enel. We know he's coming back after his cover story on the moon. Perhaps rather than seeing his return, Enel will already be on Elbaf with an assumed identity, ready to wreck havoc once again.

But there are other very important characters on Elbaf, and the most significant one is, of course, Shanks. Assuming Oda doesn't go out of his way to save the reunion for Laughtale, its hard to see how Luffy and Shanks don't meet on Elbaf. Luffy has finally reached Shanks level by becoming a fellow Emperor, and so its time to return the straw hat as promised.

On the level of hidden identities, I don't subscribe to the evil!Shanks theories, but I definitely think we will learn a lot about him. I think Shanks definitely needs to become a much more complex and morally nuanced character. If Shanks is a Celestial Dragon by blood as many suspect, I think that would be a great stepping stone.

On the level of families, Shanks is Luffy's truest father figure, so much so that Luffy has barely given his biological father two thoughts. Given what we've learned about Vegapunk's connection to the Revolutionary Army, and that Saul has almost certainly taken the remnants of Ohara's research to Elbaf, my harebrained prediction is that Dragon and co will arrive on Elbaf as well. If Bonney & Kuma travel with the Strawhats and Nika for a while, that would give the RA even more reason to visit. My prediction is we get some juicy parallels between and completely new understandings of Luffy's two fathers, as well as continued development of the found family themes present throughout the entire story so far.

On the level of sacrifice, I'm really torn. Shanks has already sacrificed so much for Luffy. Having him make a full sacrifice either in Elbaf or soon after seems not exactly Oda's style. On the other hand, Shanks is the last original Emperor. If we're truly going to usher in a new era, can Shanks be there at the top? We've been preparing for a Blackbeard v. Shanks rematch since at least Marineford. Having that promise fulfilled here would be extra poetic. And having Teach take down Luffy's mentor would make him Luffy's greatest enemy in a way no other villain has been. Even if it's not Shanks, I'm convinced there will need a big sacrifice to finally pave the way for Luffy's new era of freedom.

There's so much more that could be said about all the story threads coming to a head at Elbaf. Obviously Usopp's storyline is coming to a head. He will definitely become a brave warrior of the sea, and perhaps supplant Prince Loki to finally become God Usopp. He will definitely lead an army of 80,000. Big Mom will probably return, or at the very least we will learn how she gained Mother Caramel's devil fruit powers - which will probably tell us how Blackbeard and co do it as well. Robin will find the final Road Poneglyph and probably the first big clues of the Void Century/Will of D. from the Ohara research. The Strawhat Grand Fleet will arrive, if not at Elbaf specifically definitely soon after - just as Whitebeard's allies came to Marineford.

(Oooo! just had a thought. Will the Strawhat fleet arrive from the sky instead of beneath the ocean? That would be heckin rad.)

But this post is already absurdly long. Hope you enjoyed my rambles, and we'll see how much about Elbaf I get right!

#one piece #one piece spoilers #one piece theories #long post #loooooong and rambly post #egghead #elbaf #final saga

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