Questions & Mysteries Are den den mushis enslaved and do they like their work?

O

OykotsTreasure

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#6
#6
Enslaved...or sleeper agents?! Den Den Mushi have infiltrated virtually EVERY location on this planet. Could they be biding their time?! Waiting to strike?! Waiting to reveal their sinister plan to conquer the World?!

I mean...maybe, or maybe not. They might be telepathic, but they're still snails. They can't move very fast. Although...if they have greater psychic powers than they've shown so far, that might not matter. You don't need to be fast, if you can mind-control people.



Seriously, though, part of me DOES wonder if they could be a parallel with the Toys on Dressrossa. Another "hidden" race of people that have been transformed against their will to do their bidding of their master. A "Fourth Special Race" to go along with the Three-Eyed, Buccaneers, and Lunarians. Either Imu transforming them and using them as slaves, or someone else. They're just a little too omni-present in this series. They're something we just take for granted in this series, and Oda tends to like to play the long game with stuff like that. Like all the Kingdoms being built on high ground slightly foreshadowing the rising water levels. I feel like there's some sort of twist coming involving them. I'm just not sure what.

More on that over here:
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/forum/threads/the-origins-of-devil-fruits.62412/#post-5775093
OykotsTreasure said:
Or if you don't like that theory, there is one other place that the Dragons could be hiding. Right in plain sight.

I think the Dragons could actually be the Den Den Mushi/Transponder Snails.

I think it's possible that once upon a time someone had a Devil Fruit very similar to Sugar's Hobby-Hobby Fruit, that allowed them to transform other people into snails. And we've seen with Hancock's Love-Love Fruit that sometimes the user is the only person who can transform people back to their original form. So, you COULD trap a entire race in this transformed state if you killed off the Devil Fruit user after they used this power on them. Think something along the lines of Ursula from The Little Mermaid turning people into sea worms, that kind of thing.

I've long harbored a suspicion against these snails. They're just too weird and ubiquitous to not be a plot point. They've been everywhere for so long that we've all just gotten used to them and accept them as a natural part of this world, not questioning how any of this came to be. And leaving something this big in plain sight is something Oda would LOVE to do, I think.

Plus, if there was some way to change them all back to their original state, that would mean they would appear in almost every home around the world. It's a ready made invading army that could be useful in driving up the stakes in the Final Saga.

Personally, I don't know if this is best used for the Dragons, though. I could see the Snails turning out to be the citizens of the Ancient Kingdom. Or potentially a "Fourth Endangered Race", like the Lunarians, Three-Eyes, or Buccaneers. The telling thing is that the Den Den Mushi seem to have some sort of psychic powers, being able to communicate with each other over large distances. Assuming that their "original forms" had similar powers, they would fit in pretty well with the other "Endangered Races". The Lunarians are Fire Starters/Pyrokinetics. The Three Eyes have empathic powers, being able to hear the Voice of All Things. And Buccaneers seem to have some power over their souls (maybe?), possibly the power to Astral Project or being able to leave a Psychic Imprint on objects? In most of these cases, these "Endangered Races" seem to have psychic powers, so the Telepathic Den Den Mushi would fit right in, in my opinion. Maybe this "Fourth Race" would have little antennas on their heads, like Namekians from Dragon Ball.
Click to expand...

Technically...they could be part of my whole "The Dragons are coming" theory. Because there are a few examples of Snails or Slugs being treated like "dragons", in different areas. Not a lot, but it's something.
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...message-will-be-the-dragons-are-coming.55673/

There's the Blue Dragon slug, in real life.
https://animals.fandom.com/wiki/Blue_Glaucus

And there are several ancient pieces of artwork where knights fight Giant Snails like they're Dragons.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231221-the-mystery-of-the-medieval-fighting-snails
reddit.com/r/medieval/comments/1emidoo/why_are_there_so_many_depictions_of/
https://www.bangor.ac.uk/news/2023-...nuscripts-are-full-of-doodles-of-snail-fights
https://www.openculture.com/2025/08...ails-in-medieval-illuminated-manuscripts.html

So, it's not impossible that the Transponder Snails are actually transformed Dragons, that have been enslaved to do the bidding of Imu or someone else. Think like Ursula transforming people into polyps in The Little Mermaid.

So, sure, laugh it up for now. It may sound like a crazy crack-theory. But, Oda's done crazier things in this manga, before.

Don't be surprised if these snails turn out to be SOMETHING by the end of the story. Chances are, Oda's been hiding something about these Den Den Mushi in plain sight for the past 3 decades. As he likes to do. They're a weird thing that we all take for granted right now. But, chances are Oda's had a plan for these guys since the beginning. If Oda starts explaining EVERY facet of this World, The Mystery of the Transponder Snails will likely be involved, somehow!
 
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MonochromeYoru

MonochromeYoru

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#7
#7
D: Are the "Den Den Mushi" animals or machines?
O: They're animals. Insects.
  • Baby Den Den Mushi: Its small size makes it portable. However, its signals are weak, and cannot reach over the sea to another island.
  • Den Den Mushi: Too big to carry around, but its strength makes it useful for talking to far-off islands. Can also act as a fax machine if the accessory is attached.
  • Black Den Den Mushi (different species): They do not grow as they age. They enjoy eavesdropping, but dislike communicating with others. Commonly used as listening devices, or "wiretaps".
O: Since being raised by humans gets them plenty of food, they don't mind being used and tamed.
 
O

OykotsTreasure

‎
#8
#8
MonochromeYoru said:
D: Are the "Den Den Mushi" animals or machines?
O: They're animals. Insects.
  • Baby Den Den Mushi: Its small size makes it portable. However, its signals are weak, and cannot reach over the sea to another island.
  • Den Den Mushi: Too big to carry around, but its strength makes it useful for talking to far-off islands. Can also act as a fax machine if the accessory is attached.
  • Black Den Den Mushi (different species): They do not grow as they age. They enjoy eavesdropping, but dislike communicating with others. Commonly used as listening devices, or "wiretaps".
O: Since being raised by humans gets them plenty of food, they don't mind being used and tamed.
Click to expand...
Even that wording from SBS 19 is kind of suspicious to me, in hindsight.
https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/SBS_Volume_19

Especially given Saturn calling humans "insects". Just like Transponder Snails.



Now, that could just be a coincidence. With "Mushi" being a broad term for "bug" in Japanese that covers a lot of animals who aren't technically insects. But, it COULD be Oda setting up something that doesn't quite translate in English.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/虫

In Japanese, Saturn is likely saying something like "Human life hold no more value...than a Mushi!" Setting up a parallel between the two. "Jokes" often become reality in One Piece. I have to wonder if this is another case of that. Humans are no different than "Mushi". There could be more to this, than it appears on the surface. This might not just be a insult, it might be foreshadowing.

I don't know, I'm just saying. I feel like Oda's planting the seeds for something, here.
 
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