12 years guys.

We waited 12 years for this.

Cheers to all of us.

i find this so interesting because it's literally what happens when global warming is discussed. even if the best scientists in the world are warning us every day about it, some people just brush it off and claim it's only "a way to cause mass panic" and "crazy talk."

even in the one piece world, they have arguments to back up what vegapunk is saying. some islands are already starting to sink, and he quite literally predicted the earthquake. yet, some people still refuse to believe what's right in front of them. just like in real life.

it’s so interesting to me that vegapunk called joyboy the first pirate if we think about what that actually means.

it would make sense that in this case piracy is defined by what seems to be the “true meaning” in one piece — being free, and being on the sea. luffy becomes a pirate to be free, he defines the king of the pirates as the freest person in the world, joyboy is of course linked to complete freedom and liberation.

so joyboy took to the sea, which seems to have been something no one before him did (at least not as a lifestyle, maybe for trade and stuff), and did it in order to be free. we also know he was affiliated with (and potentially came from) the ancient kingdom, but probably decided to stop living there to become a pirate. so, to him, living on land/in the ancient kingdom was also restrictive.

we know the ancient kingdom had highly advanced technology (with a sustainable fire/solar source), and was essentially already living in the future (something maybe similar to egghead, but even more advanced because of the lack of resource constraints). but clearly, it had rules and maybe roles that someone like joyboy and luffy would have still found stifling.

the other thing that’s itching my brain is the relationship to the sea. we know that the sun/sea dynamic is important and symbolic in one piece in many different ways. the sun represents freedom, but so does the sea in some ways (at least living on it in the way pirates do). pirates (in the true/joyboy sense) live at the confluence of that freedom of sun and sea — you have to have both. not be trapped under the sea like fishmen, where certain resources are scarce, and not be bound to land where there are rules, structures, responsibilities and duties. even when those structures aren’t oppressive (like they currently are under the tenryuubito) they’re not what some people would consider freedom either.

so!! we know the sea is important. we know it’s likely only this planet has a sea/oceans (for example the moon doesn’t). the sea represents mother nature to some extent. we also know the sea is deadly to/hates devil fruit users, because they are unnatural (as material representations of people’s dreams). the sea, mother nature, is to some extent the material reality of the world — dreams can the impossible possible, can make almost anything real, are so so powerful, but they still have their limits in nature and the tangible world. there has to be balance.

this is also where we see the difference between luffy and blackbeard — blackbeard says there is no end to people’s dreams, luffy talks clearly about the end of his dream and what that looks like. freedom doesn’t mean constant accumulation and infinity and hunger to luffy, it is actually something material, collective and shared with everyone in the world. freedom is something everyone chooses for themselves in their own way, but freedom requires material conditions to be met (food, safety, companionship etc). and it is for everyone, not just the strong or the few lucky ones.

this is where i have been thinking about imu and the gorosei, and the theories around them. i know the main theory is that imu is linked to the sea somehow, and probably a/the sea devil. i don’t fully disagree, but i don’t think a) imu is the sea itself, more likely has managed to harness its power somehow. because to me the sea in one piece has to be a neutral, natural balancing force. and b) i think that if imu is closely linked to the sea, they can’t have made the devil fruits (ive seen that theory too). that wouldn’t make sense, since those two things are naturally enemies/opposed. and if vegapunk’s theory is right, devil fruits are unnaturally evolved from people’s dreams, which again contradicts the laws of nature/the sea. also, just in naming, the enemies of the gorosei are always called “devils” (of ohara, potentially the will of D), so it wouldn’t make sense for imu to have made the devil fruits (unless they did make them/their initial aspects but they were stolen or turned against them somehow). it still makes more sense to me that devil fruits came out of the ancient kingdom.

i do think imu is linked to the sea in that they want to use it for their purposes, i.e. flooding the world, and it’s strongly hinted they’ve done so before during the void century. they have some level of connection to it and maybe power over it (via the island-destroying weapon which is probably uranus). their preferred way of “cleansing the world” is through using the sea. but it’s also interesting that they want to be as far from it as possible, with marie geoise being high up and well-protected from the sea. to me imu is a “sea devil” (even in the imagery it’s clearly similar to an umiboshi) in the sense that it can use the sea to its purposes of control and destruction of freedom and dreams. i’m dubious that imu has a particular magical/power connection to the sea, but i could be very wrong on that.

to me pirates’ and joyboy’s connection to the sea, including their affiliations with the people of the sea (fishpeople, merpeople, etc) is actually much better stronger and deeper, even if it isn’t always a harmonious one. pirates and devil fruit users fear the sea to some extent because they respect it, and still they choose to be in relationship to it, just as they choose to be in relationship to risk, danger and death. they know it’s something that can check them, something that can take everything away. and that’s a much healthier, balanced relationship to something that is a pure, immense force of nature. nature humbles us, nature isn’t always nice, nature takes as much as it gives. that’s important, i think.

i would really love to see that last part play out somehow, in showing that people like joyboy, luffy etc can work with the sea and adapt to it. we’ve had hints of that with noah, and wano. the answer isn’t to isolate/save yourself and kill everyone else by keeping them down, it’s to work together to adapt. and i would love to see imu and the gorosei’s use of the sea for control and oppression fail in their world-flooding/cleansing plan because they haven’t accounted for people’s ability to do that.

the sea isn’t something you can escape or fight or fully control, it’s something you can only try and shape your own relationship to. you can’t fuck with the rules and cycles of the elemental force that is the sea, as we see with devil fruits. it is unimpressed with pure imagination/desire/dreaming. it says “ok, sure, cool dream. now what are you willing to risk and suffer because you are a part of this dirt-bound, salt-soaked world.” the sea requires body, flesh, blood, bone. the sea is the sacrifice made for the dream, the price you will pay if you reach the hubris of thinking you are beyond human and humanity. if the sun is the flame of hope and desire living in the heart, the sea is the muscle and sinew that has to carry the dream, and pay for it too.

(incidentally, this is also why i feel very sure the gorosei and imu actually are shit scared of the sea. we know the gorosei af least would be vulnerable to it too so i hope it gets them somehow lol).

there’s something perverse and twisted in imu’s use of the mother flame (something derived from the sun) for destruction, and i think their use of the sea parallels that to some extent. the sea, just as much as the sun, should not be controlled/used for those purposes. the sea represents a form of freedom too — what is, and changes, and supports the world like a shifting foundation. the sun is the freedom of what could be, what’s unreachable and intangible but consistently shining.

anyways it might be that the flooding just doesn’t come to fruition because luffy kills imu and the gorosei, which would make part of my theory moot (i wouldn’t be mad about it). but i also wouldn’t be surprised if we at least get some more sea level rise before that, to the point where it seriously starts to harm and endanger people.

just my insane rambling braindump after chapter 1114!! idk if it makes any sense but if you’ve actually read this far i am sending you flowers ✨

Does he mean Marijoa, the Sky islands or the Moon? How high up would you like to go Doflamingo? 👀

Chapter 628 "Spring Cleaning".

Chapter 1114 "The Wings of Icarus"

Just under 13 years ago we were introduced to Joy Boy and now we're finally getting some of his story

can we talk about this panel from chapter 1114? you’re telling me doffy and magellan just have hot gossip sessions on the regular together? i’m SICK

So I actually had to google this, because this whole time I was under the impression that the destruction of Lulusia immediately caused the earthquake and the rise in sea level. But according to the wiki, the earthquake happened six days after, so probably Mother Flame destabilized something when destroying a whole-ass island and caused further seismic activity (which is worrying, of course, because it means that the first earthquake might not be a one-off, as seismic activity rarely stops at just one).

And this also gives us a further insight into Vegapunk's motivations. He created the Mother Flame with good intentions, and it was immediately used to destroy an island, which will cause only more destruction to the world by the rising sea-levels. And, you know, it makes sense. Considering that he was willing to work for the government after Ohara, maybe a destruction of the whole island wouldn't force him to move openly against them. Maybe he would've continued with his quiet resistance. But the whole world? Well, that's a whole different matter.

its cute how magellan let doffy keep his glasses in impel down

Relevant to the latest chapter, I'd like to take a minute to think back to chapter 555's first page story.

Do you remember ?

I've got questions.

"I hope he doesn't spoil what the Void Century is, I'm not at that part yet"

Jesus Christ Oda, you are by far the best writer in the whole universe!

oh my oh my oh my oh my

reminds me of all the people that claimed they had found more ecological energy sources only for them to die in questionable ways soon after...

OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY

still not done freaking out about 1114 --spoilers ahead so beware

But like uhhhh Odas been cooking again

Chapter 1065: first mention of flame as a power source; creating a sun

Chapter 1067--ANOTHER mention of trying to create an eternal power source by trying to reverse engineer the iron giant

and now

Chapter 1114--we see his creation, the "sun" he made

Chouchou my beloved I missed you 🥹❤️

Yoooooooo!!! I had a feeling Joyboy could be a pirate. So if Nika is of Elbaph legend does that mean the straw hat in Mary Geoise could be Nika’s? Is a straw hat another thing that connects the three together?

I find it interesting that she is the only one questioning what the void century is. Does this mean the Celestial Dragons don’t even know what happened? That only the elders and Imu know the full truth