Questions & Mysteries Does the WG really know nothing of the sky islands?! And if yes why does Imu not claim them&has the Navy not operate there?

#1
There's something that has been bothering me lately: how can it be the WG/inhabitants of mariejoa are unfamiliar with the sky islands? Skypiea arc seemingly took place in a vacuum, the Navy had no idea where the SHs even were or what they did but other characters that live on the blue seas travelled to and from sky islands (eg Urogue) and as early as at the SHs' arrival in the white sea we were introduced to characters speaking of other ways to reach the sky as if they are commonly known and used routes.

I can see 3 possible scenarios:
  1. the WG and Imu know of the sky islands' existence but are unfamiliar with their exact locations and / or inhabitants.
  2. they know both about the sky islands as well as of the SHs having visited one but choose to act oblivious for some reason
  3. they know nothing and the number of non-sky people who know with full certainty that sky islands exist globally is even lower than that of adCoC users
What do y'all think?
 
#2
They should know, beyond the people in the grandline and the blues, the sky islands are not treated as some crazy secret. Uruoge is openly from there, Morgans delivered papers to Namis sky island, Kaido went to one pretty casually etc. They either don´t care, or used a sky island as the location of a human hunt in the past, if they had some interest in the resources they had.
 
#4
I imagine they do, but it'd be too much of a pain in the ass to get whole flotillas up to the White Sea to find sporadic islands that frankly don't have a lot of valuable resources.
The part about the resources might be crucial. If we assume the theories about moon people coming to earth for resources the WG would be familiar the lack of resources in the sky world namely because there is no soil.
 
#5
The part about the resources might be crucial. If we assume the theories about moon people coming to earth for resources the WG would be familiar the lack of resources in the sky world namely because there is no soil.
Yeah, dials are cool and all, but there's not really anything truly unique to the White Sea that's really crucial.

So, first the WG has to get all those ships up there, and then find islands to conquer, set up bases and have go keep going up and down things like Knock Up Streams, and that's not even the locals going guerilla warfare on isolated Marine garrisons.

Just a total logistics nightmare.
 
#7
The population and resources up there aren't that tempting. It's also really hard to get to. Maybe the gorosei can fly up there or the HK can teleport if it's to kill someone or take something, but to start building bases and facing the trouble of sending thousands of fodder marines up there is simply not worth it.
 
#8
My next theory will probably resolve this question.
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Also what Bullet said. + we still don't know why and how Birka got destroyed. Enel flashback will happen in the next arc.
 
#10
Imu knows everything imo but chose to ignore it because they are inconsequential to them.
How are they inconsequential to him? Could the same not be said about any unaffiliated bluesea nation?

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My next theory will probably resolve this question.

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Also what Bullet said. + we still don't know why and how Birka got destroyed. Enel flashback will happen in the next arc.
What if it's some kind of Loki situation and Enel was somehow framed as the destructor of Birka and it really was Imu's doing?

Or Enel never wanted to destroy Birka on his own volition but believed it has to be done for him to become Nika?

Which brings me to my next question: how familiar are the sky inhabitants with void century lore and in general world history if Imu's WG never had control of their their territory ?
 
#11
How are they inconsequential to him? Could the same not be said about any unaffiliated bluesea nation?
I mean it's all about resources. Going back and forth will be a pain in ass when it comes to sky island. Hence they ignore them. Blue sea nations don't have same travelling issues. Also sky islands are isolated so whatever happens don't affect them as most people won't even know what happened there whereas if a revolution takes place in blue sea Islands then it can spread quickly to other nations.

Pretty plain and simple.
 
#13
How are they inconsequential to him? Could the same not be said about any unaffiliated bluesea nation?

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What if it's some kind of Loki situation and Enel was somehow framed as the destructor of Birka and it really was Imu's doing?

Or Enel never wanted to destroy Birka on his own volition but believed it has to be done for him to become Nika?

Which brings me to my next question: how familiar are the sky inhabitants with void century lore and in general world history if Imu's WG never had control of their their territory ?
Yup I could see something like that. We know about Birka's location and it could technically be beyond the reverse mountain where we are now.
+we just recently got introduced to the holy knights and how they opperate. It is still being built up.

So it makes sense that once we get to Urouge and Birka in the next arc, we will most likely learn about what really happened and that's very well where the Holy Knights helped out in the destruction of Birka probably. Dunno why else Oda is holding off this plotline until the end of Elbaf, or post Elbaf.
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I think the skyfolk are very familiar with everything since their landing. Not all but for sure the ex-royals of Birka.
 
#14
I can think about 2 really good reasons for the WG to "ignore" the sky islands:
  1. It's troublesome to reach the sky. The 2 known ways of reaching the sky islands (at least the "main" ones, i.e. Skypiea) are the Knock Up Stream and the "Summit of High West". The Knock Up Stream is a do-or-die option, while the summit is "safer", but you'll experiment heavy losses on the way. It would be incredibly costly to have even a single marine outpost there. (Obviously, someone with a flying DF like Kaido or a flying apparatus like Haredas or Morgans could easily go there, but it's really hard to find someone with this kind of ability/technology.)
  2. The sky islands' inhabitants are hostile and possess territorial advantage. The skypieans and shandians are (or were, until 2 years ago) in constant war. The birkans were said to be strong warriors. Plus, it's hard for a blue sea dweller to fight effectively on the sky islands due to the altitude, making them easy preys for local warriors like Wyper.
The only reason I could think of for them to get there is the "City of Gold" legend, but I honestly don't think that they care that much about these kind of stories.
 
#16
The Celestial Dragons literally got their name from a species inhabiting Sky Islands. So they defo know. I just think that Imu can‘t control angels since they’re not from this world. He had the Lunarians hunted down as well, and he fears anything he can’t control. But since they’re not hurting anyone he probably just leaves the angels alone.
 
#17
Yup I could see something like that. We know about Birka's location and it could technically be beyond the reverse mountain where we are now.
+we just recently got introduced to the holy knights and how they opperate. It is still being built up.

So it makes sense that once we get to Urouge and Birka in the next arc, we will most likely learn about what really happened and that's very well where the Holy Knights helped out in the destruction of Birka probably. Dunno why else Oda is holding off this plotline until the end of Elbaf, or post Elbaf.
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I think the skyfolk are very familiar with everything since their landing. Not all but for sure the ex-royals of Birka.
I think we're heading to the heaven world towards the end of Elbaf and then other sky islands/nariejoa
 
#18
I think we're heading to the heaven world towards the end of Elbaf and then other sky islands/nariejoa
Well alot of people think that the next arc will actually be Birka. Including me. Won't mind if it's another variation of a sky island or it sunk into the crown of the Adam tree. Nevertheless I am certainly sure that there is plot relevance there. + if Oda feels like it, doing moon shenanigans too.
 
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