tldr; One Piece is a masterwork of illustrated narrative storytelling. Its themes mirror some of the most important themes of Christianity and its approach to global victory--a social commentary on the 'New World Order' and how it might be overwhelmed by the united quest for the joy that comes through faith in a hopeful future. It maintains this rich commentary while taking a balanced approach to spirituality as a generic, universal, human disposition that does not have to be held in opposition to science, a false dichotomy that the immoral rich use to keep the world they rule divided because they fear the power of a united humanity. By extension, it is also a commentary on the state of global politics, oligarchy, the United Nations, and nuclear proliferation. The One Piece is the story itself, though there are likely also valuable physical treasures in store, which Roger and his crew laughed at. One Piece is the story of a world which was once united being united once again, balanced with themes of Determinism (for good and bad) and the inevitability of cyclical patterns of abuse of power, the meaning of true freedom, and how to find hope and joy in the experience of the inevitable but good future.
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Wow, what a chapter.
Without a doubt, this week's update shows us the single most important panel in the series for interpreting the deeper mysteries of the story as well as providing us a road map (get it, because Road makes maps!) for the events still to come. Here it is:
(Credit to the artist who colored it, whom I do not know)
We will be looking at every piece of this mural, the three scriptures referenced, as well as answering the questions:
1) How did the world come to be in its present condition, 4 oceans and the Grand Line divided by the Red Line?
2) Why did Roger and his crew laugh when they discovered Raftel?
3) What is the One Piece?
4) What is the Will of D?
5) What is the fragmented moon/half moon?
6) Who are these deities of earth, sea, forest, and sun?
Throughout, I will be referring back to the mural and the texts, which I am copy/pasting here in English-
First World: Flames engulfed the land, and humans succumbed to their desires, touching the forbidden Sun. The enslaved prayed, and the Sun God appeared. The Earth God was enraged, and, together with the serpent of infernal flames, shrouded the world in death and darkness. They would never meet again.
Second World: Breath stirred within the void, and the Forest God sent forth demons. The Sun did nothing but spread the fires of war. The people of the half-moon dreamed, the people of the full-moon dreamed. Humans slew the Sun and became Gods, and the Sea God raged. They would never meet again.
Third World: In chaos, there is void. The troubled shadow remembers the promised day, and hears the voice of the fractured moon. The Sun God dances and laughs, leading the world to its end. The sun will return once more, and a new dawn will arrive. Surely this time they will meet again.
A few primary remarks- The 'infernal serpent' is not one of the 4 deities described, being distinguished from the earth, sun, moon, rain, sea, forest, void, chaos, and anything else that could be considered divine. It seems to be a demonic entity, or simply a monster in less spiritual terms, that cooperated with the god of the earth. The "forbidden sun" and the "sun god" do not seem to represent the same sun. The mural contains a depiction of two of the three worlds while hinting as a whole at the reality of the third. The god of the earth is likely the figure standing crowned on Zunesha.
Let's take each symbol first, starting at the bottom right side and arcing to the bottom left across the image. The bottom right is, for the purpose of the social commentary the story is making, the most important.
A Cog in the Machine
We begin in the bottom right with what I believe is an incredibly rich illustration, especially since it is meant to be done in the style of a child, which Oda accomplishes very well. This looks very much like something my son would draw based on a more detailed description of the first world than this text offers, which those children likely had, not being limited to this poetry but having access to all of Elbaf's folklore. While some have expressed concerns that it may represent our world, I think that is a bit misguided. I think it is meant to represent a world much like ours, but we will end up avoiding the Horizon-style "our world but thousands of years after civilization is destroyed" approach. What we will see is a more dystopian world than our own current time, where the people of One Piece lived, and not that this world is Earth in the future. The placement of continents and oceans simply does not mirror the earth. I don't think we have to worry about it going that direction.
What we have here is a beautiful but haunting depiction of modern life, especially as it has come to fruition in Japan and the West.
Beginning with the apartment-like skyscraper buildings, a slightly smaller person emerges before growing into a full adult. Above them are abstract, starlike objects which I have taken to represent dreams or ambitions as most interpreters of this image have done. The single figure with outstretched arms appears to be passing or taking the dream to the person who steps into the conveyor being lowered into the earth. That dream becomes a halo, representing innocence, which is then lost as the person descends into the flames of the earth.
When they come up the other side, the innocence is gone, having transformed into another dream/ambition. These dreams start small, but the dreams are then brought up the conveyor to be presented to a ruler, who represents the religious or spiritual order of society which adds ethical and metaphysical value to the dream, giving it direction, purpose, and motivation and affirmation.
The higher calling presented by the ruling religious class is then placed back onto the conveyor where it becomes fuel for the machine, represented also by a giant monster, which then produces children who are fed back into the cycle of dying dreams that fuels the mechanical beast.
This presents a very compelling criticism of Western Christian culture, as I have witnessed this very thing play out through my life ancillary to the church and surrounded by the manipulations of often rich and sincerely evil 'pastors' and church authorities, such as the Roman Catholic church used to be. While most would never admit to such a thing, being convinced of their own place in the order, most pastors and other religious leaders in America do not foster powerful, real-life change in their congregants so much as they run their churches like businesses.
Often, theological knowledge is cloistered, and doctrinal challenges are presented as either coming from ignorant laypersons who have no authority to question the teachers or as an effort at dividing the church on the part of the person questioning the teaching. I have experienced this first hand, while taking my studies seriously those who give money to the church and keep the country club status quo have been elevated to teaching or authority positions over me and others, even though they are not qualified for them.
What the American church does better than anything else is train faithful mortgage-payers who, in the name of "stewardship" and a "higher calling" being made in the image of God, raise families and give money to men who mostly relax during the week while preaching a message of hope dependent on participation in the system in order to be right with God. The dreams and ambitions of young people there are mutated in submission to an exclusive club of people who paid their way through special schools to obtain titles that give them the ostensible right to claim they are God's own representatives.
These young people's dreams are, in a way, super charged by teachings that say they are serving God by faithfully working 9-5 and giving a percentage of their paycheck, which meets the moral and spiritual demands of human life and encourages them back onto the conveyor (that they originally left) with their mutated dream in order for that dream to become fuel for the fire that maintains the religious order.
The false dichotomy presented here, between a technological 'secular' world and a spiritual world, is one of the primary methods by which power is maintained. This analogical order was maintained in One Piece by Imu, the god of the earth, who stands on top of Zunesha in a humanoid form. Imu seems to have begun as a mediatory figure who ruled over the enslaved humans as the religious authority, much like today's One Piece. It is unclear if this is Imu's true form, though it certainly does not seem very likely.
Oda is arguing here, through implication, that there is a grand unity possible (in our world and One Piece) through the unification of spirituality and science/technology, and that the distinction between them is an illusion crafted by the powerful in order to maintain the division that allows them to remain in control. This is a theme touched upon later in the text also.
The religious leader is also standing on Zunesha, who represents the natural world of plants and animals. This may represent nonreligious ethical movements like environmentalism juxtaposed against consumer culture and climate destruction caused by the filth and waste of the technological civilization, movements which have also been co-opted by the powerful in order to gain political capital and real capital through manipulating the desires of people who want to protect the world in order to get them to invest or buy their products.
This first world of One Piece appears to have had access to fusion technology, “the forbidden sun”, the fuel for which was likely mined in a literal sense by the humans depicted, who were treated as slave labor by the ruling class who served the primordial gods of the world.
The forbidden sun which the humans were not allowed to touch was this original Mother Flame. This is a scathing and straightforward rebuke of the world's energy conglomerates, who have invested trillions into fuels and practices that destroy the planet while they get fat and wealthy and normal people around the world suffer and labor, rather than allowing or encouraging or investing into true renewable energy, which would strip away their wealth and distribute it to the people. This is something Vegapunk himself sought to do, ending in his assassination.
The God of the Earth
The serpent depicted behind the city represents the infernal serpent, while the figure atop Zunesha represents the god of the earth who becomes enraged when the slaves rebel and pray to the god of the sun. The gods of the earth and sun may have been enemies before, or the sun god may have simply been created through the dreaming of people. This sun god appeared in the ship we see, which is not Enel's ship but rather is Uranus. Enel may factor in as coming back with a similar weapon/ship as it is obviously a ship similar to his which is depicted shooting lightning, but for the purpose of the history this represents the ancient weapon Uranus.
The sun god, wielding Uranus, waged war against Imu who had Pluton (fitting, the one on the earth built a boat and the one from the sky built a boat that can fly). Through the combined efforts of the earth god and the serpent, represented by the dragon and the serpent both blowing flames at Uranus, the sun god was defeated. This led to the kingly figure transforming, figuratively and perhaps literally, into a dragon-like figure who guarded/guards the Sun Tree Eve.
This conflict ended with the death of the world serpent in this conflict, or perhaps its sealing, whose body becomes the Red Line. The mythological, figurative dragon who guards the forbidden fruit of the tree represents Imu taking up residence atop the Red Line by the tree Eve, guarding it from humans who would take the fruit.
This parallels the placement of cherubim outside the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree that gives eternal life after Adam and Eve's fall. It also hearkens to the use of dragons as guardians in many other fictions. This is the world order as it currently stands, so this dragon symbol has a double meaning that applies to the third present world as we will discuss. Uranus and Pluton both fell into the hands of the victors, Imu and its associates. Since the serpent was defeated or sealed away, the serpent and the earth god cannot meet again, just as the two halves of the world cannot meet due to the creation of the Red Line.
However, a man's dream never dies. Some of them are shown going up to the moon, from which the Lunarians later come, and one in particular is shown as passing through to the left side of the tree, that dream being the dream of Nika that outlasts the conflict and sparks the war on the left.
Breath on the Void
During the initial part of the Void Century, or perhaps right before, 'breath stirred in the void', causing the release of ‘demons’, which indicates the new involvement of a third deity, the god of the forest. This deity's identity is not clear. It is clear, however, that this is the functional origin of devil fruits.
It may be that there is no devil fruit tree, as there seems to be some secret method of extracting and manipulating the devil fruit's essence that both Vegapunk and Blackbeard know. It is possible that the forest god can/could control this as well and simply places people's dreams into fruits of various trees all over the world, which are discovered by people randomly, rather than them all coming from one tree which would be easy to locate and control. We should know this with some certainty since Who's Who had the Nika fruit, which he apparently simply found somewhere rather than it growing in a predictable location where a more powerful person could have accessed it to keep it safe.
During this period, we also have Joyboy, who was likely born before the Void Century formally begins. He leads a coalition by fanning the flames of war and rebellion, but in a conflict which seems to primarily be between the newly-involved forest god and the sea god, his efforts failed.
The sea god was enraged by the violation of the natural order perpetrated by the forest god. In response, he attacks Joyboy's coalition with the apparent support of an alliance of human beings and presumably Imu, represented by the people on the boat beneath the sea devil. These ‘humans became gods' after his defeat, elevated to such status by Imu, the Celestial Dragons.
The sea god and the forest god, as a result of this conflict, can never meet again, just as the horizons of the world can never meet due to the separation between the oceans.
The dragon itself remained at the top of the tree during this conflict. It was during this conflict that the forests of the world were largely destroyed by the raging sea, leading to the defeat of not only Joyboy's army and the forest god, but to the creation of the calm belts and the Grand Line which create a hard limit on the potential size of any forest. This is hinted at by the mangrove trees, which are supposedly directly related to Eve, which should dominate the landscape of the world. The fact is that they have been mostly destroyed, with Eve guarded by Imu and the current offshoots of mangroves like Sabaody being the only ones that still exist.
This dragon, Imu, the great Silhouette, is the
‘troubled shadow' who remembers the inevitably of his prophesied defeat. This is extremely close to Satan in the Bible, who also knows of the prophecy of his sure destruction, which knowledge fuels his rage and hatred of the Author and motivates him to cause as much pain and division as possible. See this:
"Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” - Revelation 12:12
The Second War
There is a clear representation of every ally of Joyboy's, which are pretty easy to identify, on the left side of the tree. There are some fun hints that people like Law, Mihawk, and Loki were/will be there. Most specifically, Emeth, who is now destroyed outside of Egghead, is nearly identical to Franky's depiction in the foreground. It seems Franky will occupy the giant robot position, a big Franky stock boost! The rest are straightforward enough.
What is implied by the mural as a whole is that the next incarnation of this dream of the sun will need to gather all of the forces depicted in the entire mural in order to defeat the dragon who remains at the top of the tree. The sea god, having won, yet remains enraged at the existence of these so-called devils and fruits, and therefore does not allow those who contain the forest god's power to swim in it. It is certainly possible that the sea god is still alive, part of what makes Poseidon so important as an ally. It also is possible that devil fruits are not devils at all, that the name ‘devil fruit’ was simply made up propaganda meant to make people afraid of the fruits and their users when in reality the fruits are simply people’s dreams, the next step in human evolution (Vegapunk and Blackbeard cited).
Nika/Joyboy/Luffy will need to unite all the ancient weapons (possible with Enel, they already have Pluton and Poseidon) as well as the Lunarians, Minks, giants, Loki, Franky*, Mihawk, Law, the Samurai, Ninja, the people of Skypiea, the island whales, Zunesha, and the dreams of the common man in order to defeat the dragon that guards the way to the tree of life and the energy source to power the utopian civilization of the future.
The defeat of Imu will mean the destruction of the Red Line, a dramatic decrease in the sea levels, the revelation of the super continent/continents that dominated the world, the release of the forest god to replenish the land, and the restoration of the original world which had been burned by wasteful industry. This will create the All Blue, the one world ocean that unites all people, over which the sun god will benevolently rule as a source of freedom, joy, and energy for everyone equally.
1) This mural, and its interpretation, are the answer to question 1 above. The Red Line was created by the defeat of the infernal serpent who separated the seas and caused horrible darkness to fall on the earth when the factories went dead, oil spilled out onto the waters, and the sky was darkened by seismic catastrophes and volcanic eruptions caused by its defeat. The Grand Line was created when the god of the sea, combined perhaps with the power of Uranus, cause dramatic sea level rise and destroyed much of the world's landmass, creating the grand line separated by the calm belts.
2) Roger and his crew laughed when they arrived at Laugh Tale because they found the story of this world and the future world spelled out for them in glorious detail. They saw the true history, learned of the determined coming future, and saw the beautiful end. They were just too early.
They all went and retired happily, living out their days drinking and relaxing, waiting for the advent of the sun god who would liberate the world and finally end the conflict. Roger was a huge prophecy buff, and, unlike some people on this site that Oda seems to think are very immature, looked to the determined nature of the future represented by a certain prophecy as a great source of hope and joy in the present.
This, again, marks a very close parallel to the teachings of Christianity or any messianic worldview. The future is determined with certainty--it is our victory in the end, so today we "rejoice always" with "exceedingly great joy" (Google Bible verses about joy) even in our sufferings because we know that the end of the story is the defeat of evil and the reign of light and freedom.
Roger’s laughter is directed at his own timing, simply being born too early to witness the good end of the world, wishing that he had been able to fight with Joyboy to try and change the outcome (another mature perspective on Determinism, allowing him to simultaneously enjoy the promised future while also regretting the state of the world, even though both are literally set in stone).
On Raftel is simply the adult, probably using words rather than pictures, version of this same story that also gives more information about the end. Roger's laughter may also have been motivated by his knowledge of things like this mural drawn by children, and how a child's vision of the world actually turned out to be true. Oda delivered on this theme beautifully. After all, “maybe this whole thing is all just a child’s dream.”
3) What is the One Piece? The One Piece is Roger's treasure, a true physical treasure that he left behind. It is a double entendre, also meaning the true history of the world and the events yet to come which Roger left behind in one magnificent, physical piece. This is, in fact, likely a triple entendre, standing also for the world that lays below submerged by the sea which was left essentially in one piece.
There are, however, some very key things that may be located alongside this treasure which Roger left behind there, as he said he did leave something and Oda has stated clearly that there is a treasure there. It is certainly possible that it is also immense wealth (Nami needs something to take home).
More importantly, I believe the One Piece also includes two particular legendary 'items': The egg Roger carried on his ship, which will likely only hatch to the beat of Nika's drum, which may contain the forest god's offspring, the infernal serpent's offspring, or a dragon. Also, Roger's sword, Ace, which Luffy will pick up and wield as Joyboy and Nika both did, except that this time he will have his other hand free instead of having a spear or shield. Roger's sword likely contains a devil/devil fruit, itself being potentially either the god of the forest or the mythological zoan of the infernal serpent. Ace would have several intended meanings there as well, representing Ace, Roger’s son, the flame that ignited the events of the story and Luffy's life, as well as the ace up their sleeve.
If the infernal serpent is brought back to life, my instinct is that it will be an enemy of Imu, who let it die in the first conflict. Loki may fit this bill, as the giant depicted in the left side has the same braided pattern on his clothing as the serpent behind the city does on its side, potentially confirming that Loki will have the world serpent fruit.
4) The will of D is the will of the people of the half moon, their inherited will or legacy in the form of their dreams that became the devil fruits and the sun god. The half moon was simply passed down through the ages as a symbol, which is now associated with the letter D. These are the descendants of the humans who originally rebelled against the god of earth and killed the infernal serpent. This is a partial answer to question 5 as well. The D are the people of the half moon, however...
5) Who are the people of the fragmented moon? We do not know. This, to me, is the single largest remaining mystery in the story after this chapter. This people of the fractured moon are perhaps the lunarians, but there are too few of them left alive to be significant. It may also represent the people we saw there with Enel, a mechanical race, and potentially other races that live there as well. We need more information to be certain.
6) Imu is the god of the earth, the forest god is yet to be identified but is the progenitor of ‘devil’ fruits and an ally of Joyboy against the sea god (there is a fourfold division, the sea and forest oppose each other while the sun and earth oppose each other), Nika is the sun god, and the god of the sea is likely a monstrous primordial entity that remains to this day. Queue up the shadows outside Thriller Bark panels for me.
The Third World
The third world is not depicted in this mural, and I did originally argue that it was, but I was wrong. This mural instead represents all the necessary requirements for Imu's defeat, who remains the dragon at the top of the world guarding the way to the restoration of the planet and the freedom and life of humanity. It rules over this world as a 'troubled shadow' through 'chaos' and 'void', the chaotic division of the world that Imu manages through misinformation/the Void Century. Imu is a clear and poignant parallel to Satan, who also rules the world through chaos and division, whose primary goal is to keep people divided rather than united towards a common goal with hope in a certain future.
Thanks for reading!!
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@Hamlette
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Wow, what a chapter.
Without a doubt, this week's update shows us the single most important panel in the series for interpreting the deeper mysteries of the story as well as providing us a road map (get it, because Road makes maps!) for the events still to come. Here it is:
(Credit to the artist who colored it, whom I do not know)
We will be looking at every piece of this mural, the three scriptures referenced, as well as answering the questions:
1) How did the world come to be in its present condition, 4 oceans and the Grand Line divided by the Red Line?
2) Why did Roger and his crew laugh when they discovered Raftel?
3) What is the One Piece?
4) What is the Will of D?
5) What is the fragmented moon/half moon?
6) Who are these deities of earth, sea, forest, and sun?
Throughout, I will be referring back to the mural and the texts, which I am copy/pasting here in English-
First World: Flames engulfed the land, and humans succumbed to their desires, touching the forbidden Sun. The enslaved prayed, and the Sun God appeared. The Earth God was enraged, and, together with the serpent of infernal flames, shrouded the world in death and darkness. They would never meet again.
Second World: Breath stirred within the void, and the Forest God sent forth demons. The Sun did nothing but spread the fires of war. The people of the half-moon dreamed, the people of the full-moon dreamed. Humans slew the Sun and became Gods, and the Sea God raged. They would never meet again.
Third World: In chaos, there is void. The troubled shadow remembers the promised day, and hears the voice of the fractured moon. The Sun God dances and laughs, leading the world to its end. The sun will return once more, and a new dawn will arrive. Surely this time they will meet again.
A few primary remarks- The 'infernal serpent' is not one of the 4 deities described, being distinguished from the earth, sun, moon, rain, sea, forest, void, chaos, and anything else that could be considered divine. It seems to be a demonic entity, or simply a monster in less spiritual terms, that cooperated with the god of the earth. The "forbidden sun" and the "sun god" do not seem to represent the same sun. The mural contains a depiction of two of the three worlds while hinting as a whole at the reality of the third. The god of the earth is likely the figure standing crowned on Zunesha.
Let's take each symbol first, starting at the bottom right side and arcing to the bottom left across the image. The bottom right is, for the purpose of the social commentary the story is making, the most important.
A Cog in the Machine
We begin in the bottom right with what I believe is an incredibly rich illustration, especially since it is meant to be done in the style of a child, which Oda accomplishes very well. This looks very much like something my son would draw based on a more detailed description of the first world than this text offers, which those children likely had, not being limited to this poetry but having access to all of Elbaf's folklore. While some have expressed concerns that it may represent our world, I think that is a bit misguided. I think it is meant to represent a world much like ours, but we will end up avoiding the Horizon-style "our world but thousands of years after civilization is destroyed" approach. What we will see is a more dystopian world than our own current time, where the people of One Piece lived, and not that this world is Earth in the future. The placement of continents and oceans simply does not mirror the earth. I don't think we have to worry about it going that direction.
What we have here is a beautiful but haunting depiction of modern life, especially as it has come to fruition in Japan and the West.
Beginning with the apartment-like skyscraper buildings, a slightly smaller person emerges before growing into a full adult. Above them are abstract, starlike objects which I have taken to represent dreams or ambitions as most interpreters of this image have done. The single figure with outstretched arms appears to be passing or taking the dream to the person who steps into the conveyor being lowered into the earth. That dream becomes a halo, representing innocence, which is then lost as the person descends into the flames of the earth.
When they come up the other side, the innocence is gone, having transformed into another dream/ambition. These dreams start small, but the dreams are then brought up the conveyor to be presented to a ruler, who represents the religious or spiritual order of society which adds ethical and metaphysical value to the dream, giving it direction, purpose, and motivation and affirmation.
The higher calling presented by the ruling religious class is then placed back onto the conveyor where it becomes fuel for the machine, represented also by a giant monster, which then produces children who are fed back into the cycle of dying dreams that fuels the mechanical beast.
This presents a very compelling criticism of Western Christian culture, as I have witnessed this very thing play out through my life ancillary to the church and surrounded by the manipulations of often rich and sincerely evil 'pastors' and church authorities, such as the Roman Catholic church used to be. While most would never admit to such a thing, being convinced of their own place in the order, most pastors and other religious leaders in America do not foster powerful, real-life change in their congregants so much as they run their churches like businesses.
Often, theological knowledge is cloistered, and doctrinal challenges are presented as either coming from ignorant laypersons who have no authority to question the teachers or as an effort at dividing the church on the part of the person questioning the teaching. I have experienced this first hand, while taking my studies seriously those who give money to the church and keep the country club status quo have been elevated to teaching or authority positions over me and others, even though they are not qualified for them.
What the American church does better than anything else is train faithful mortgage-payers who, in the name of "stewardship" and a "higher calling" being made in the image of God, raise families and give money to men who mostly relax during the week while preaching a message of hope dependent on participation in the system in order to be right with God. The dreams and ambitions of young people there are mutated in submission to an exclusive club of people who paid their way through special schools to obtain titles that give them the ostensible right to claim they are God's own representatives.
These young people's dreams are, in a way, super charged by teachings that say they are serving God by faithfully working 9-5 and giving a percentage of their paycheck, which meets the moral and spiritual demands of human life and encourages them back onto the conveyor (that they originally left) with their mutated dream in order for that dream to become fuel for the fire that maintains the religious order.
The false dichotomy presented here, between a technological 'secular' world and a spiritual world, is one of the primary methods by which power is maintained. This analogical order was maintained in One Piece by Imu, the god of the earth, who stands on top of Zunesha in a humanoid form. Imu seems to have begun as a mediatory figure who ruled over the enslaved humans as the religious authority, much like today's One Piece. It is unclear if this is Imu's true form, though it certainly does not seem very likely.
Oda is arguing here, through implication, that there is a grand unity possible (in our world and One Piece) through the unification of spirituality and science/technology, and that the distinction between them is an illusion crafted by the powerful in order to maintain the division that allows them to remain in control. This is a theme touched upon later in the text also.
The religious leader is also standing on Zunesha, who represents the natural world of plants and animals. This may represent nonreligious ethical movements like environmentalism juxtaposed against consumer culture and climate destruction caused by the filth and waste of the technological civilization, movements which have also been co-opted by the powerful in order to gain political capital and real capital through manipulating the desires of people who want to protect the world in order to get them to invest or buy their products.
This first world of One Piece appears to have had access to fusion technology, “the forbidden sun”, the fuel for which was likely mined in a literal sense by the humans depicted, who were treated as slave labor by the ruling class who served the primordial gods of the world.
The forbidden sun which the humans were not allowed to touch was this original Mother Flame. This is a scathing and straightforward rebuke of the world's energy conglomerates, who have invested trillions into fuels and practices that destroy the planet while they get fat and wealthy and normal people around the world suffer and labor, rather than allowing or encouraging or investing into true renewable energy, which would strip away their wealth and distribute it to the people. This is something Vegapunk himself sought to do, ending in his assassination.
The God of the Earth
The serpent depicted behind the city represents the infernal serpent, while the figure atop Zunesha represents the god of the earth who becomes enraged when the slaves rebel and pray to the god of the sun. The gods of the earth and sun may have been enemies before, or the sun god may have simply been created through the dreaming of people. This sun god appeared in the ship we see, which is not Enel's ship but rather is Uranus. Enel may factor in as coming back with a similar weapon/ship as it is obviously a ship similar to his which is depicted shooting lightning, but for the purpose of the history this represents the ancient weapon Uranus.
The sun god, wielding Uranus, waged war against Imu who had Pluton (fitting, the one on the earth built a boat and the one from the sky built a boat that can fly). Through the combined efforts of the earth god and the serpent, represented by the dragon and the serpent both blowing flames at Uranus, the sun god was defeated. This led to the kingly figure transforming, figuratively and perhaps literally, into a dragon-like figure who guarded/guards the Sun Tree Eve.
This conflict ended with the death of the world serpent in this conflict, or perhaps its sealing, whose body becomes the Red Line. The mythological, figurative dragon who guards the forbidden fruit of the tree represents Imu taking up residence atop the Red Line by the tree Eve, guarding it from humans who would take the fruit.
This parallels the placement of cherubim outside the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree that gives eternal life after Adam and Eve's fall. It also hearkens to the use of dragons as guardians in many other fictions. This is the world order as it currently stands, so this dragon symbol has a double meaning that applies to the third present world as we will discuss. Uranus and Pluton both fell into the hands of the victors, Imu and its associates. Since the serpent was defeated or sealed away, the serpent and the earth god cannot meet again, just as the two halves of the world cannot meet due to the creation of the Red Line.
However, a man's dream never dies. Some of them are shown going up to the moon, from which the Lunarians later come, and one in particular is shown as passing through to the left side of the tree, that dream being the dream of Nika that outlasts the conflict and sparks the war on the left.
Breath on the Void
During the initial part of the Void Century, or perhaps right before, 'breath stirred in the void', causing the release of ‘demons’, which indicates the new involvement of a third deity, the god of the forest. This deity's identity is not clear. It is clear, however, that this is the functional origin of devil fruits.
It may be that there is no devil fruit tree, as there seems to be some secret method of extracting and manipulating the devil fruit's essence that both Vegapunk and Blackbeard know. It is possible that the forest god can/could control this as well and simply places people's dreams into fruits of various trees all over the world, which are discovered by people randomly, rather than them all coming from one tree which would be easy to locate and control. We should know this with some certainty since Who's Who had the Nika fruit, which he apparently simply found somewhere rather than it growing in a predictable location where a more powerful person could have accessed it to keep it safe.
During this period, we also have Joyboy, who was likely born before the Void Century formally begins. He leads a coalition by fanning the flames of war and rebellion, but in a conflict which seems to primarily be between the newly-involved forest god and the sea god, his efforts failed.
The sea god was enraged by the violation of the natural order perpetrated by the forest god. In response, he attacks Joyboy's coalition with the apparent support of an alliance of human beings and presumably Imu, represented by the people on the boat beneath the sea devil. These ‘humans became gods' after his defeat, elevated to such status by Imu, the Celestial Dragons.
The sea god and the forest god, as a result of this conflict, can never meet again, just as the horizons of the world can never meet due to the separation between the oceans.
The dragon itself remained at the top of the tree during this conflict. It was during this conflict that the forests of the world were largely destroyed by the raging sea, leading to the defeat of not only Joyboy's army and the forest god, but to the creation of the calm belts and the Grand Line which create a hard limit on the potential size of any forest. This is hinted at by the mangrove trees, which are supposedly directly related to Eve, which should dominate the landscape of the world. The fact is that they have been mostly destroyed, with Eve guarded by Imu and the current offshoots of mangroves like Sabaody being the only ones that still exist.
This dragon, Imu, the great Silhouette, is the
‘troubled shadow' who remembers the inevitably of his prophesied defeat. This is extremely close to Satan in the Bible, who also knows of the prophecy of his sure destruction, which knowledge fuels his rage and hatred of the Author and motivates him to cause as much pain and division as possible. See this:
"Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” - Revelation 12:12
The Second War
There is a clear representation of every ally of Joyboy's, which are pretty easy to identify, on the left side of the tree. There are some fun hints that people like Law, Mihawk, and Loki were/will be there. Most specifically, Emeth, who is now destroyed outside of Egghead, is nearly identical to Franky's depiction in the foreground. It seems Franky will occupy the giant robot position, a big Franky stock boost! The rest are straightforward enough.
What is implied by the mural as a whole is that the next incarnation of this dream of the sun will need to gather all of the forces depicted in the entire mural in order to defeat the dragon who remains at the top of the tree. The sea god, having won, yet remains enraged at the existence of these so-called devils and fruits, and therefore does not allow those who contain the forest god's power to swim in it. It is certainly possible that the sea god is still alive, part of what makes Poseidon so important as an ally. It also is possible that devil fruits are not devils at all, that the name ‘devil fruit’ was simply made up propaganda meant to make people afraid of the fruits and their users when in reality the fruits are simply people’s dreams, the next step in human evolution (Vegapunk and Blackbeard cited).
Nika/Joyboy/Luffy will need to unite all the ancient weapons (possible with Enel, they already have Pluton and Poseidon) as well as the Lunarians, Minks, giants, Loki, Franky*, Mihawk, Law, the Samurai, Ninja, the people of Skypiea, the island whales, Zunesha, and the dreams of the common man in order to defeat the dragon that guards the way to the tree of life and the energy source to power the utopian civilization of the future.
The defeat of Imu will mean the destruction of the Red Line, a dramatic decrease in the sea levels, the revelation of the super continent/continents that dominated the world, the release of the forest god to replenish the land, and the restoration of the original world which had been burned by wasteful industry. This will create the All Blue, the one world ocean that unites all people, over which the sun god will benevolently rule as a source of freedom, joy, and energy for everyone equally.
1) This mural, and its interpretation, are the answer to question 1 above. The Red Line was created by the defeat of the infernal serpent who separated the seas and caused horrible darkness to fall on the earth when the factories went dead, oil spilled out onto the waters, and the sky was darkened by seismic catastrophes and volcanic eruptions caused by its defeat. The Grand Line was created when the god of the sea, combined perhaps with the power of Uranus, cause dramatic sea level rise and destroyed much of the world's landmass, creating the grand line separated by the calm belts.
2) Roger and his crew laughed when they arrived at Laugh Tale because they found the story of this world and the future world spelled out for them in glorious detail. They saw the true history, learned of the determined coming future, and saw the beautiful end. They were just too early.
They all went and retired happily, living out their days drinking and relaxing, waiting for the advent of the sun god who would liberate the world and finally end the conflict. Roger was a huge prophecy buff, and, unlike some people on this site that Oda seems to think are very immature, looked to the determined nature of the future represented by a certain prophecy as a great source of hope and joy in the present.
This, again, marks a very close parallel to the teachings of Christianity or any messianic worldview. The future is determined with certainty--it is our victory in the end, so today we "rejoice always" with "exceedingly great joy" (Google Bible verses about joy) even in our sufferings because we know that the end of the story is the defeat of evil and the reign of light and freedom.
Roger’s laughter is directed at his own timing, simply being born too early to witness the good end of the world, wishing that he had been able to fight with Joyboy to try and change the outcome (another mature perspective on Determinism, allowing him to simultaneously enjoy the promised future while also regretting the state of the world, even though both are literally set in stone).
On Raftel is simply the adult, probably using words rather than pictures, version of this same story that also gives more information about the end. Roger's laughter may also have been motivated by his knowledge of things like this mural drawn by children, and how a child's vision of the world actually turned out to be true. Oda delivered on this theme beautifully. After all, “maybe this whole thing is all just a child’s dream.”
3) What is the One Piece? The One Piece is Roger's treasure, a true physical treasure that he left behind. It is a double entendre, also meaning the true history of the world and the events yet to come which Roger left behind in one magnificent, physical piece. This is, in fact, likely a triple entendre, standing also for the world that lays below submerged by the sea which was left essentially in one piece.
There are, however, some very key things that may be located alongside this treasure which Roger left behind there, as he said he did leave something and Oda has stated clearly that there is a treasure there. It is certainly possible that it is also immense wealth (Nami needs something to take home).
More importantly, I believe the One Piece also includes two particular legendary 'items': The egg Roger carried on his ship, which will likely only hatch to the beat of Nika's drum, which may contain the forest god's offspring, the infernal serpent's offspring, or a dragon. Also, Roger's sword, Ace, which Luffy will pick up and wield as Joyboy and Nika both did, except that this time he will have his other hand free instead of having a spear or shield. Roger's sword likely contains a devil/devil fruit, itself being potentially either the god of the forest or the mythological zoan of the infernal serpent. Ace would have several intended meanings there as well, representing Ace, Roger’s son, the flame that ignited the events of the story and Luffy's life, as well as the ace up their sleeve.
If the infernal serpent is brought back to life, my instinct is that it will be an enemy of Imu, who let it die in the first conflict. Loki may fit this bill, as the giant depicted in the left side has the same braided pattern on his clothing as the serpent behind the city does on its side, potentially confirming that Loki will have the world serpent fruit.
4) The will of D is the will of the people of the half moon, their inherited will or legacy in the form of their dreams that became the devil fruits and the sun god. The half moon was simply passed down through the ages as a symbol, which is now associated with the letter D. These are the descendants of the humans who originally rebelled against the god of earth and killed the infernal serpent. This is a partial answer to question 5 as well. The D are the people of the half moon, however...
5) Who are the people of the fragmented moon? We do not know. This, to me, is the single largest remaining mystery in the story after this chapter. This people of the fractured moon are perhaps the lunarians, but there are too few of them left alive to be significant. It may also represent the people we saw there with Enel, a mechanical race, and potentially other races that live there as well. We need more information to be certain.
6) Imu is the god of the earth, the forest god is yet to be identified but is the progenitor of ‘devil’ fruits and an ally of Joyboy against the sea god (there is a fourfold division, the sea and forest oppose each other while the sun and earth oppose each other), Nika is the sun god, and the god of the sea is likely a monstrous primordial entity that remains to this day. Queue up the shadows outside Thriller Bark panels for me.
The Third World
The third world is not depicted in this mural, and I did originally argue that it was, but I was wrong. This mural instead represents all the necessary requirements for Imu's defeat, who remains the dragon at the top of the world guarding the way to the restoration of the planet and the freedom and life of humanity. It rules over this world as a 'troubled shadow' through 'chaos' and 'void', the chaotic division of the world that Imu manages through misinformation/the Void Century. Imu is a clear and poignant parallel to Satan, who also rules the world through chaos and division, whose primary goal is to keep people divided rather than united towards a common goal with hope in a certain future.
Thanks for reading!!
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