Of all the things I've seen theorized regarding what Vegapunk's recording is going to be about, the World sinking was definitely NOT one of them. To say the reveal was shocking would be an understatement, but in hindsight, it's amazing just how much the setup was carefully crafted, starting with the Giant Ship of Noah on the Fishman Island.
Noah's Ark
Those who are familiar with the Bible and Christianity are sure to have heard about "The Great Flood". It's a story about God's decision to return the universe to its pre-creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microcosm of Noah's ark. The man by the name of Noah was tasked (by God) to gather a pair of every living animal, board them on the ark (ship) that he has created and resettle them once he finds a new land for them to inhabit. It was theorized, for a long time, that the promise Joy Boy made, and failed to deliver, to the Fishmen was to use the Noah to relocate them to the surface World, making Joy Boy the "Noah of One Piece".
However, what if the promise Joy Boy made wasn't aimed just at the Fishmen and just at relocating them at the surface world? What if his promise was aimed towards every race, akin to how Noah's ark carried a pair of every animal species, to provide them a safe haven once the World inevitable sinks?
The Great Flood
In One Piece, the idea of a "great flood" isn't anything new; going back as far as Water 7 Arc we see the seeds of rising sea levels being planted. The titular City of Water 7 is famously inspired by the real life city of Venice (SBS 38) and much like Venice Water 7 is also slowly sinking. Each year, the sea levels rise with the coming of Aqua Laguna and the inhabitants of the island are forced to build the city higher and higher to combat it.
More recently, we also have the example of rising sea levels in Wano; or rather, the "Current Wano". The "Old Wano" is already underwater, said to have sunk sometime in the past, which explains the weird appearance of the island with the unnatural looking walls of earth that surrounds it as well as the giant waterfalls "flushing out" the water from the inside. It was probably built that way to counter the flooding. Yes, I know that the water inside the borders isn't sea water and instead is most likely rain water which flooded the Island after the borders were created but I think the overall reason the borders were created was to protect Wano from the flood.
With Wano we also have a real time example of this phenomenon as we quite literally just saw, in the newest cover story (Chapter1109), that Onigashima has already sunk underwater. Of course, this could've just been the work of Momo who moved it with his Flame Clouds but with the recent reports of the rising sea levels, it's far more likely it's that. And it seems like the speed of which the sea levels are rising has drastically increased! The Aqua Laguna from 2 years ago was said to be the biggest one yet and Onigashima sunk in seemingly just a matter of days.
Suddenly, a lot of things make sense now. Roger's comments about being "too early" are referencing the fact that the sea level hasn't risen enough for whatever Roger Pirates found at Laugh Tale; whatever it is that needs the sea to rise. Enel's Cover Story regarding him going to the Moon, where Sky People originated from, in the search of "Fairy Verth" can finally be tied into the main story as the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon, alongside Earth and Moon orbiting one another, is what causes tides - the rise and fall of the sea levels.
Bible Influence in One Piece
This whole "The Great Flood" deal made me realize something; the Great Flood and Noah's Ark aren't the only things from the Bible that seemingly inspired One Piece and the Egghead Arc, more than any other arc, leans pretty hard into the Biblical imagery with Kuma and his back-story:
- Kuma can be seen carrying a book that clearly has "Bible" written on it,
- He lives and prays in a Church riddled with crosses where he serves as a Priest,
- His entire back-story where he suffers for "the sins of others" is clear parallel to the life of Jesus Christ,
- Saturn with his appearance evokes the imagery of the Devil; Satan in particular as Saturn name phonetically reads in Japanese as "Jeigarushia Satān Sei",
- Even Bonney is supposed to be an allegory for a vampire with how she cannot go into the sunlight.
And even beyond just this arc, we have pretty heavy Christian influence with The Treasure Tree Adam, the highest quality three from which Thousand Sunny was made, and The Sunlight Tree Eve which gives the Fishmen light at the bottom of the Ocean. And this made me think of something.
Long, long time ago, in an SBS 48, Oda has stated that once Vegapunk makes his appearance we will learn what Devil Fruits really are. If this arc is indeed going to reveal the origin of Devil Fruits and if this arc is heavily influenced by Christianity and Biblical stories, then are Devil Fruits quite literally the "Forbidden Fruit from the Garden of Eden"?
The Forbidden (Devil) Fruit
In the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve (like the aforementioned trees) are placed in the Garden of Eden where they are allowed to eat the fruit from any of the trees, but are forbidden by God to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (this same tree might be an inspiration behind Vegapunk's design). Eventually, deceived by the Devil masquerading as a Serpent and desiring knowledge, Eve defies Gods orders and eats the fruit before giving it to Adam who does the same. After finding out what they did, God curses the Serpent, the Man and the Woman, and banishes the Man and Woman from the Garden before they can eat from the tree of eternal life.
Are Devil Fruits quite literally “Devil’s fruit”? Did they get their name because the first humans who defied their “God” were “tricked” by someone that was branded as Devil and stole the forbidden fruit that gave them powers? God’s natural enemy is the Devil, and those who carry the Will of D. are considered God’s natural enemy so are the people that carry the Will of D. quite literally people with the “Will of Devil” – Will of those who originally defied their God and are destined to always do so because of that original sin.
The act of Adam and Eve defying God by eating the Forbidden Fruit is known as “The Original Sin”, the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature. Is the “great crime” (great sin) that the Buccaneers have committed in the past for, which they are prosecuted for to this day, stealing/eating the forbidden fruit from the Garden of the God. Is Bartholomew Kuma actually, Bartholomew D. Kuma u(it rolls of the tongue so naturally)?
Conclusion
Obviously, there are a lot of things yet to be revealed about the how and why the World is sinking but if we continue to follow the Biblical story then the flooding is being caused by God who wants to “cleanse” the World. If there is anyone who fits the description of God in One Piece’s World that would be none other than the one who sits on the Empty Throne – Im, the one who decides the “Great Cleansing”.
Imu resides at the top of the Red Line, in the Holy Land of Marijoas, a figurative Heaven that they stole from the Lunarians which bare striking resemblance to Angels (alongside the rest of the Sky People). The Pacifista’s created in their image are even called Seraphim - the highest rank of Angels in Christianity. And in the room we first see Imu reside we can see grass, flowers and trees, making the room appear as if it's a Garden.
Tl;dr
The Egghead Arc seems to have some heavy Biblical influence through Kuma’s backstory (carries the Bible, is a priest and has suffered for the sins of others) or the great flood that is going to sink the World (Noah’s Ark) and it made me wonder if this influence will have an effect on the origin of Devil Fruits since in SBS 48, Oda has stated that once a certain professor makes his appearance then we will learn just what Devil Fruits are.
Noah's Ark
Those who are familiar with the Bible and Christianity are sure to have heard about "The Great Flood". It's a story about God's decision to return the universe to its pre-creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microcosm of Noah's ark. The man by the name of Noah was tasked (by God) to gather a pair of every living animal, board them on the ark (ship) that he has created and resettle them once he finds a new land for them to inhabit. It was theorized, for a long time, that the promise Joy Boy made, and failed to deliver, to the Fishmen was to use the Noah to relocate them to the surface World, making Joy Boy the "Noah of One Piece".
However, what if the promise Joy Boy made wasn't aimed just at the Fishmen and just at relocating them at the surface world? What if his promise was aimed towards every race, akin to how Noah's ark carried a pair of every animal species, to provide them a safe haven once the World inevitable sinks?
The Great Flood
In One Piece, the idea of a "great flood" isn't anything new; going back as far as Water 7 Arc we see the seeds of rising sea levels being planted. The titular City of Water 7 is famously inspired by the real life city of Venice (SBS 38) and much like Venice Water 7 is also slowly sinking. Each year, the sea levels rise with the coming of Aqua Laguna and the inhabitants of the island are forced to build the city higher and higher to combat it.
More recently, we also have the example of rising sea levels in Wano; or rather, the "Current Wano". The "Old Wano" is already underwater, said to have sunk sometime in the past, which explains the weird appearance of the island with the unnatural looking walls of earth that surrounds it as well as the giant waterfalls "flushing out" the water from the inside. It was probably built that way to counter the flooding. Yes, I know that the water inside the borders isn't sea water and instead is most likely rain water which flooded the Island after the borders were created but I think the overall reason the borders were created was to protect Wano from the flood.
With Wano we also have a real time example of this phenomenon as we quite literally just saw, in the newest cover story (Chapter1109), that Onigashima has already sunk underwater. Of course, this could've just been the work of Momo who moved it with his Flame Clouds but with the recent reports of the rising sea levels, it's far more likely it's that. And it seems like the speed of which the sea levels are rising has drastically increased! The Aqua Laguna from 2 years ago was said to be the biggest one yet and Onigashima sunk in seemingly just a matter of days.
Suddenly, a lot of things make sense now. Roger's comments about being "too early" are referencing the fact that the sea level hasn't risen enough for whatever Roger Pirates found at Laugh Tale; whatever it is that needs the sea to rise. Enel's Cover Story regarding him going to the Moon, where Sky People originated from, in the search of "Fairy Verth" can finally be tied into the main story as the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon, alongside Earth and Moon orbiting one another, is what causes tides - the rise and fall of the sea levels.
Bible Influence in One Piece
This whole "The Great Flood" deal made me realize something; the Great Flood and Noah's Ark aren't the only things from the Bible that seemingly inspired One Piece and the Egghead Arc, more than any other arc, leans pretty hard into the Biblical imagery with Kuma and his back-story:
- Kuma can be seen carrying a book that clearly has "Bible" written on it,
- He lives and prays in a Church riddled with crosses where he serves as a Priest,
- His entire back-story where he suffers for "the sins of others" is clear parallel to the life of Jesus Christ,
- Saturn with his appearance evokes the imagery of the Devil; Satan in particular as Saturn name phonetically reads in Japanese as "Jeigarushia Satān Sei",
- Even Bonney is supposed to be an allegory for a vampire with how she cannot go into the sunlight.
And even beyond just this arc, we have pretty heavy Christian influence with The Treasure Tree Adam, the highest quality three from which Thousand Sunny was made, and The Sunlight Tree Eve which gives the Fishmen light at the bottom of the Ocean. And this made me think of something.
Long, long time ago, in an SBS 48, Oda has stated that once Vegapunk makes his appearance we will learn what Devil Fruits really are. If this arc is indeed going to reveal the origin of Devil Fruits and if this arc is heavily influenced by Christianity and Biblical stories, then are Devil Fruits quite literally the "Forbidden Fruit from the Garden of Eden"?
The Forbidden (Devil) Fruit
In the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve (like the aforementioned trees) are placed in the Garden of Eden where they are allowed to eat the fruit from any of the trees, but are forbidden by God to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (this same tree might be an inspiration behind Vegapunk's design). Eventually, deceived by the Devil masquerading as a Serpent and desiring knowledge, Eve defies Gods orders and eats the fruit before giving it to Adam who does the same. After finding out what they did, God curses the Serpent, the Man and the Woman, and banishes the Man and Woman from the Garden before they can eat from the tree of eternal life.
Are Devil Fruits quite literally “Devil’s fruit”? Did they get their name because the first humans who defied their “God” were “tricked” by someone that was branded as Devil and stole the forbidden fruit that gave them powers? God’s natural enemy is the Devil, and those who carry the Will of D. are considered God’s natural enemy so are the people that carry the Will of D. quite literally people with the “Will of Devil” – Will of those who originally defied their God and are destined to always do so because of that original sin.
The act of Adam and Eve defying God by eating the Forbidden Fruit is known as “The Original Sin”, the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature. Is the “great crime” (great sin) that the Buccaneers have committed in the past for, which they are prosecuted for to this day, stealing/eating the forbidden fruit from the Garden of the God. Is Bartholomew Kuma actually, Bartholomew D. Kuma u(it rolls of the tongue so naturally)?
Conclusion
Obviously, there are a lot of things yet to be revealed about the how and why the World is sinking but if we continue to follow the Biblical story then the flooding is being caused by God who wants to “cleanse” the World. If there is anyone who fits the description of God in One Piece’s World that would be none other than the one who sits on the Empty Throne – Im, the one who decides the “Great Cleansing”.
Imu resides at the top of the Red Line, in the Holy Land of Marijoas, a figurative Heaven that they stole from the Lunarians which bare striking resemblance to Angels (alongside the rest of the Sky People). The Pacifista’s created in their image are even called Seraphim - the highest rank of Angels in Christianity. And in the room we first see Imu reside we can see grass, flowers and trees, making the room appear as if it's a Garden.
Tl;dr
The Egghead Arc seems to have some heavy Biblical influence through Kuma’s backstory (carries the Bible, is a priest and has suffered for the sins of others) or the great flood that is going to sink the World (Noah’s Ark) and it made me wonder if this influence will have an effect on the origin of Devil Fruits since in SBS 48, Oda has stated that once a certain professor makes his appearance then we will learn just what Devil Fruits are.
Last edited: