Yeah, like others have said. This would actually be a very BAD time for a training arc, if the time dilation theory was true. If the Strawhats spent 2 months training on Elbaph, that would mean about 6 months (or more) would have passed in the outside world.
I still feel like the time dilation theory is unlikely. It just doesn't seem like it completely lines up with what we know about Elbaph.
I've talked before about how Mother Carmel and Scopper show us that humans seem to age normally on Elbaph, but let's go into a little more detail about that.
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...oming-time-dilation.67667/page-2#post-6086107
We now know for sure that Giants age around 3 times slower than humans. 15 years for a Giant causes them to only age 5 years, and so on. So, let's assume that rate of time flow can also be applied to Elbaph's theoretical different time flow. Let's just say, for arguments sake, that EVERYTHING on Elbaph ages 3 times differently than in the outside world.
Which means, the 2 or so days that the Strawhats have been on Elbaph is theoretically around 6 days in the outside world. Now, we actually have seen some small support for this. Scopper and Shank's conversation about the 3 or 4 years actually being 10 years. The Revolutionaries actually making a move on Mariejois. Oda not showing us what's happening in the outside world while we're in Elbaph. There are a few things that support the idea.
But, there's just a LOT more things that just don't line up with that idea.
Scopper should, theoretically, be around his 70s. And he LOOKS like he's in his 70s. We don't know his exact age, but we can make a few educated guesses. Rayleigh is currently 78 years old. Roger, if he was still alive, would have been 77. So, since Scopper is the other "Wing of the Pirate King", we can probably assume he SHOULD be around 77 years old like his two contemporaries.
Let's do some more math. Roger died when he was 53 years old. Rayleigh would have been 54. So, let's assume Scopper was 53 years old at that point, too. 24 years have passed since the Roger Pirates were disbanded and Roger was executed. Assuming Scopper lived on Elbaph that entire time, that means only 8 years should have passed for him. So, if the time dilation theory were true, Scopper should currently be 61. Now, ages in One Piece are kind of hard to nail down. But, Scopper, to me, doesn't look almost two decades younger than the 78 year old Rayleigh.
There's also Colon to consider. It seems like Colon has probably never left Elbaph, as adventure-hungry as he is, so he probably has never left like his father has. So, he SHOULD be a good "control sample" to see if this makes sense. Colon is a Half-Giant, so his aging process may be different than other Giants. He might not have the full 3 times slower aging that other Giants have, he might only age half as fast, or at the same rate as a normal human. Colon is currently 20 years old. If he aged 3 times slower like a Full-Giant he should be 6 years old in human years. But, he "presents" closer to being 10 years old. So, let's assume Colon ages half as fast as a normal human, instead of a Full-Giant's full 3 times slower. Now, it's hard to say if those are "Elbaph Years" or "World Calendar Years", but lets assume the Giants are using the same calendar system as everyone else in the world. Otherwise, if the Giants were using "Native Elbaph Years", Colon would actually be 60 years old in "World Calendar Years", which makes NO sense, since he was born after Roger died 24 years ago. So, the Giants MUST be using "World Calendar Years" for their own ages, NOT "Elbaph Years".
Colon is supposedly aging half as fast as a human, but TIME on Elbaph is ALSO going 3 times slower. You probably need to combine both factors. So, if that was actually the case, that means Colon should only be a relative 3 years old. If time on Elbaph was flowing differently, Colon should still be a toddler. Mind, maybe the Giants are immune to the different time flow? Which is possible, but we haven't gotten any reason for why that would be the case.
There's also Dorry and Brogy. They were on Little Garden for 100 years during their fight. That should have been a relative 33 years for them. And...well, their beards grew. I'm not sure if they actually look 30 years older or not? But, whatever the case, it doesn't really seem like being away from Elbaph had any noticeable effect on their age? But, again, maybe Giants aren't affected by the different time flow? Or maybe Little Garden has the same "time dilation" effect as Elbpah, even though we NEVER got any indication of that at the time.
There is a potential work around for making the time dilation work. And that is, if you LEAVE Elbaph, you're suddenly hit with all the time you "skipped" while on it. So, say you stay on Elbpah for a month. Once you leave the island, you're suddenly hit with 3 months worth of aging that you didn't experience before. We know Scopper's left the island, at least to visit Crocus. It's possible he's around 77 years old, because he keeps leaving the island and getting hit with all his age. But, we've seen Shanks and his crew on Elbaph leave the island during the fight with Kid, and THEY didn't seem to get hit with any aging effects afterward.
There's also no obvious mechanism for making the time dilation work. This is still a shonen manga. If "time" were a big part of the story, I feel like Oda would at least have a big clocktower or something feature prominently in Elbaph. I feel like Oda would make the foreshadowing more obvious, if this were the case. But, there's been no "force fields" that the Strawhats have passed through to mark the different sections of time. There's been no warning from the Giants. There's no "Time God" animal that we've met. Nothing!
So, I don't know, there ARE ways to force this to work. If the Giants are immune to the time dilation. And maybe if the Giants are using relative years instead of "World Calendar" years. And if leaving causes you to get back all the age you skipped while you were on Elbaph. And if Oda has been hiding what's causing this effect on this particular island and no where else. Except Little Garden for the same, unexplained reason, that was never brought up during the arc itself. But, all that just seems to finnicky. It's too many rules and too many contradictions. I just don't know if Oda would make something this complicated for this island alone.
So, personally, I think Scopper and Shanks' conversation about 10 years feeling like 3 is just Oda trolling the hardcore fans. He's likely aware of the theory, and teasing the fans with a red herring.
As for what the warning not to linger was actually about? I'm going to guess it actually has something to do with Animal "Gods" on Elbaph. It seems like wild animals on Elbaph have access to a unusual amount of Devil Fruits, if the Lion-Cat in Legoland, and Biblio are any indication. If there are a oddly high amount of Devil Fruits on Elbpah, that would actually make sense to warn people about. Because wild animals can die anytime. Which means their Devil Fruits could reincarnate anywhere on the island at any time. Which means, someone who already HAS a Devil Fruit could easily accidentally eat a second Fruit, with EXPLOSIVE results. The longer you stay on Elbaph, the more likely it is that you'll accidentally eat a Devil Fruit. Meaning, you either lose the ability to swim, or you'll explode. Either is not good. One is slightly worse than the other. I just personally feel like this is more likely than the time dilation idea. Which is only around because of the Giant's aging at different speeds than humans, with no other real evidence for it.
But, whatever the case, it is WEIRD that the Giants haven't given the Strawhat's any sort of warning about it. This could mean that the Giants don't see it as being a big deal. But, there's been enough Humans on Elbaph that they should know that the Strawhats should be aware of whatever it is. At least Gerd should have thought to tell them about it. Maybe they all thought Shanks would have mentioned whatever it is to them? It's just strange that we got this warning from the narrator, but no one's actually talked about it so far.
