The ultimate dream...
"I want to be..."
"and then I'll be..."
Those were Luffys and Rogers words. It was bugging me for months when I noticed on my reread what Luffy couldve said because I was 100% sure it was not about being the PK. Shanks and Rayleigh were suprised about Luffys words and could not believe that they heard the same words as Rogers and see there:
Rogers flashback confirmed that he was indeed not talking about being the PK and the parallels of that scene (Sabo/Ace-WB/Oden) indicated once again that they had said the exact same thing and just recently Yamato confirmed it through Odens logbook in chapter 1000 again.
Ace and Yamato talking about it.
Ace calls it Luffys
"ultimate dream". (Be aware these are fan translations and not official translations. I will update this as soon as its out.)
Now what exactly did they say?
What they said was something so childish. Something so ridiculous that one could not take it serious (Sabo and Whitebeard) the other was overwhelmed and shocked (Ace and Oden).
Sabo called Luffy funny and Whitebeard compared Roger to a little boy so both busted out laughing because of this dream. Ace and Oden could not believe what he just said and were shocked and speechless. And both Luffy and Roger laughed after they had told them about it not caring about their reaction.
(Luffy) (Roger) Chapter 585 and 966
As said before Yamato said that Oden wrote about the PK having said those exact words.
With the mention of those words Yamato also talked about fate and prophecies (the will of D). And thats where my thought comes in. Oden talked about a man who is supposed to come and that Wanos borders needed to be open.
I think both, Luffys and Rogers, dream ties back to Joyboy. Infact I believe Joyboy's will and dream is the exact dream Luffy and Roger are talking about.
Their words go as (Luffy) "I want to be..." (Roger)"And then I'll be..."
...the man/boy who brings joy to the world.
(Now im not saying these are the exact words Luffy said but this is the more formal one. I doubt sth like this would make WB or Sabo laugh. I will list some others at the end that would make sense in the context given and basically deliver the same message.)
Luffy was always a joyful kid and when we first saw Roger as a young person when meeting Rayleigh he aswell was full of joy.
Roger wanted to turn the whole world upside down but he never gave us a reason as to why. He never showed any interest about conquering and ruling over the world but he said those words with a huge grin on his face full of joy.
He was laughing. He wanted to turn the world upside down out of fun, out of joy for a good laugh and he did not want to do that alone.
I believe that Luffy and Rogers goal was and is to make everyone laugh.
I also want to mention that the last treasure Joy Boy left behind got everyone to laugh on the island.
But why exactly did the
Luffy and freedom
The link between Joy and Freedom:
I think Luffy sees his and everyones happiness in freedom. If you wanna be happy in the sense of laughing and feeling joy first of you gotta be free.
After Roger many people were unhappy. He failed to bring joy to the world. He was not able to free the world from the fangs of the WG so many people were pissed at him for starting an age of crime and violence that was needed for the next person to reach Laughtale and bring the dawn of the world and free the world from its darkness and bring light. The sun brings joy and so will the dawn which Luffy will bring as said many times throughout the story.
Luffys whole journey is as many know a representation of bringing the dawn and joy on a smaller scale. He reaches an island that is surrounded by darkness and then he frees it metaphorically bringing light = the dawn = the sun = joy.
Almost any island in whichs history and situation hes involved in he leaves by bringing the inhabitants joy and laughter.
In Dressrosa for example he refused to leave the island until Rebecca was truly happy so he risked being caught just to bring her to her father to laugh.
When Luffy tried to leave the island the inhabitants saved him and his allies from Fujitora and all these inhabitants were laughing.
An even better example is the feast after almost every single arc. They party together and enjoy themselves fully. Wether pirate or not for example in PH marines and pirates laughed and partied together. Just like everyone in the world wether it be Pirate, Marine, Revo or Civilian they will all laugh because of Luffy at the end.
I also believe the song Binks sake has a tie to Joyboy and I believe Brook knows more than he wants to admit.
Maybe the fact that both Roger and Luffy drank sake before/while/after they had said their dream outloud just strengths this idea of mine but that might be a stretch.
EDIT:
Someone from the OP discord server showed me this which could definitely be important for Brooks role in the story according to my theory.
Im not sure wether Luffy will even be called JoyBoy but I do think that he will carry out the same values and dreams as the past JoyBoy because he has already inherited JoyBoys will just like Roger. This explains why Luffy had the same dream as Roger already as a child. It was always on his mind.
Noone put it in his head, his hidden dream was bringing joy to the world and make everyone laugh. Its something Luffy wants to do and Roger felt like he had to do it because it was his fate and thats where the problem comes in.
Why Roger and the past Joyboy failed:
Roger was impatient.
Roger believed in this being his destiny. I am not saying Roger did it without liking it. No, Im sure Roger genuienly wanted to make everyone laugh but he did not take his time. Instead of waiting for Buggy he felt like he needed to go
right now. Oden felt the same thing. If he had stayed in Wano he had the feeling that he would never get the chance again so he did not take his time to stay in wano but rather left Momo etc. behind and went back onto Rogers ship to continue his journey.
I also believe Toki knew more than she admitted and thought that this time would be the time of JoyBoys comeback thats why she encouraged Oden to leave as well. But when Oden and Roger reached Laugh Tale the obviously realised they were to early.
Roger was not patient enough and failed so he made it his duty to set the path for the next man that reaches Laugh Tale and set his people all across the world like Shanks, Crocus, Rayleigh and even Buggy to guide the next person to Laugh Tale.
Buggy in my eyes will play another huge role and hes a person who I believe might even get to reach Laugh Tale together with Luffy but thats for another time.
Joy Boy was selfish.
Now what do I mean by selfish? You might say Luffy is selfish as well and that is true. But I believe Joy Boy was selfish in the sense of he wanted to do everything alone and he wanted to take the burden alone. I believe he as well wanted to make everyone laugh. Just like Luffy wants everyone to live happily together, to live healthy and to get to eat as much as they want. So did Joy Boy. But because he wanted to do everything himself he could not take it. The promise he made with FMI to transport the fishmen onto the surface with the Noah he failed to hold because he did that all alone instead of asking for help. He apoligized for it and realized his mistakes when it was already to late.
Joy Boy broke mistake
Luffy as the successor:
Now to Luffy. Luffy will be put in a similiar situation as Roger but he will not rush to things like Roger did. He will listen to Rayleighs advice and decide to see the world first and to take their time. The One Piece is not running away and this might be a perfect situation to emphasize and elaborate on the theme of friendship in One Piece. He will have all Road Poneglyphs but he wont go straight to Laughtale because he needs to help out a friend.
Now these are just ideas im gonna throw out:
Possibly just another Ace 2.0 where a friend is captured and Luffy rushes to help or
Maybe someone of the crew has to go back where its really important for some reason maybe Chopper has to cure Kureha or something (unless she got the eternal youth OP) so they cruise all the way back to drum island because Luffy wont leave a friend behind just to rush things. We could also be passing crocus and get brooks final meet up with laboon again.
Luffy and how he evades JoyBoys problem.
Luffy as opposed to Joy Boy gave shirahoshi the same promise. But here comes the difference. It was not Luffy alone. The entire SH crew promised Shirahoshi and therefore Luffy is not taking the burden alone. The entire SH crew is now bound to bring joy and happiness to shirahoshi and indirectly to the inhabitants of FMI because Shirahoshi could order the seakings to pull the noah up. Luffy has emphasized multiple times throughout the story that he refuses to leave his friends behind and the he needs them to live and to fullfill his dream. Without them he does not want to continue. He stated this to Sanji in WCI for instance.
This can be applied on a much larger scale then so not only to FMI but to all of the world Luffy will bring joy with the help of his friends.
This would further stretch the importance of friendship in One Piece again and explain why the SH crew as a whole can potentially be seen as Joy Boys successors. Maybe they will be called Joy Crew instead of Joy Boy but thats just me throwing ideas out.
Lastly Luffy would not bee seen as a hero though. He will still be seen as a criminal. Just a funny one that makes the people laugh. :D
WHEN? When will Oda reveal this?:
I think the perfect timing is at the end of this arc, Wano Kuni. A lot of lore will be revealed after the war but I think I can pin it down much more precise.
Luffy is gonna say these exact same words again at the banquet after the war.
Why?
- This should parallel Roger saying it to WB and Oden after the fight when they are drinking together and having a feast.
- Momo potentially having the same reaction as Oden.
- The song binks sake could tie into it again since I believe Binks Sake and Joy Boy have a connection.
- The upcoming action of drinking sake together again.
- All or at least some of his crew have to be there when he says it so they can support his dream.
- Wano has a direct connection to Joy Boy so this would be the perfect moment again.
- The Banquet is the perfect moment to be laughing at something.
- Why did Oda bring this up again with Yamato if not now?
We're so close to reaching Laugh Tale after Wano so there are two options imo:
1. Luffys friends need to know of his ultimate dream before he reaches Laugh Tale so they can help him achieve it as soon as hes there because becoming PK and his ultimate dream overlign with eachother.
2. Luffy tells his friends on Laugh Tale. He explains becoming PK was the first step needed to fullfill his ultimate dream and that now this is the final goal of his journey.
Alternatives that came to my mind:
- I want to/I will be the man everyone laughs at.
- I want to/I will be the man that makes everyone laugh.
- I want to/I will be the man that makes everyone happy.
- I want to/I will be the greatest jokester in the world.
- I want to/I will be a joke (to laugh at).
- I want to/I will be the greatest joke ever told.
- I want everyone to laugh.
- I want everyone to laugh at me.
- I want to make everyone happy.
- I want to make everyone laugh.
- I want to tell they greatest joke ever.
EDIT:
I figured out if VIZ actually translated it wrong by assuming they would say "...be Pirate King!" then it wouldnt be "I want to be.../I will be..." but just "I want to.../I will..."
That just changes the way I worded the dream. At the end of the day it would be the same just without the "...be the man that..." or so.