Just want to talk for a bit about the potential plot points we could be seeing on Elbaf. Wano isn't finishing anytime soon, but I am now starting to look ahead to seeing what Oda has planned next, given how long the plot has been leading to Wano. Elbaf's the last remaining solidly foreshadowed location before Laugh Tale- the Strawhats don't need to go to God's Valley or Lodestar or whatever, it would be nice, but it isn't essential. On the other hand, Elbaf is the longest running plot location beside Laugh Tale, we do need to there. So I'm talking about what I think we could see there
Usopp
Usopp's the obvious first pick. His interest with Elbaf started with Dorry and Broggy.
He's been fascinated by Giants, particularly Elbaf giants, every since. Usopp's ties to Elbaf is the longest running link between a character and a location we've had in One Piece. He interacts with Giants again on EL, with Oimo and Kashii inviting him to go to Elbaf with them, then in Dressrosa again after the timeskip we see Usopp again expressing his desire to go there
Now what's interesting about Usopp and Elbaf is that it's tied to his dream. He wants to be a braved man of the seas. When he sees Dorry and Broggy, he realises that's what it means to achieve his dream, to be like them.
This then leads to the next potential plot point of Elbaf:
The Red Hair Pirates
Why does Usopp want to be a brave man of the seas? Because of this
It's what his father is. So there's two things associated with Usopp's dream, his father and the Elbaf Giants. I think it would make sense, for a storytelling perspective, for Usopp to achieve his dream in Elbaf, and for both to be there. And there's another thing that supports this. We know who's crew Yasopp is on. And going into Wano, what did we see from his captain?
If Shanks and Luffy are looking to meet up soon, Elbaf seems the best place to do it, because there we can also get a meaningful Usopp and Yasopp reunion. Note that Luffy also was very impressed by Dorry and Broggy back on Little Garden- their duel that Nami thought was stupid is actually, in Luffy (and probably therefore Oda's) view, a great example of the manly romantic nature of adventure. Elbaf's a good thematic place then for Luffy and Shanks to fulfill their manly promise to each other. There's also some potential Luffy/Giant links between the Giant Strawhat on Maryjois, Saul's family being D's and the theme of Luffy's G3 gigantification abilities, to suggest that Oda is setting up that Joy Boy was a giant and Luffy is his reincarnation, but there's not much else to go on there.
Now, there isn't anything yet solidly linking Shanks and Elbaf- though I'm aware of the past theory connecting his ship design to traditional Viking ships, and I think it's a good one and on the right track. Even with just speculation, though, I think that if Elbaf is going to be linked with a Yonko, Shanks will be the one. He might not be a giant himself, but I think Oda would consider him to have similar giantish attributes of being manly and so on. We know Big Mom failed to ally with them- that doesn't mean that no other Yonko has. Kaido's obviously not done it, I doubt they'd like Blackbeard- unless Loki is a shit and is ruining the place- which is very possible. So Shanks (or WB in the past) seem very possible allies to him.
Also, if Shanks comes up there's always the chance for two other fan favourites very associated with him.
And Buggy Sama.
Anyway, next point.
The Strawhat Grand Fleet
I think Elbaf is where the Grand Fleet is going to be fulfilling this bit of foreshadowing
Now, the first reason for that is that we are guaranteed to have at least one member of the crew there- Hajrudin. Hajrudin, as we know, is from Elbaf, and wants to be the King of the Giants. Just makes sense he's going to have a big role in the Giant arc.
Also, one of his crewmates, Stansen, foreshadowed meeting up with the crew again
Note how this is framed as him talking to Usopp, again linking Usopp with the Giants.
Why I don't think the Grand Fleet will show up on Wano is that, based on what Oda said in that narrators box, the Grand Fleet are going to cause a massive incident. Cause is the main word there, it means they are going to start it. That obviously hasn't been the case in Wano. A Strawhat allied captain becoming King of the Giants could certainly be considered cause of a historic incident, and if Shanks and Elbaf are linked, well, we could have already seen the start of this particular plot thread
Hajrudin going to Elbaf to be King, Barty picking a fight with their potential main ally Shanks- that's got the ingredients for a major storm brewing with two out of the seven captains being big players. We might also see Leo take Pound in pursuit of Lola and Chiffon- Lola, as we know, having a big link to Loki. Seems likely Oda might want those two interacting at some point. Speaking of Lola, what about her mother, eh?
Big Mom
No, I'm not looking forward to her being there for a third straight arc (assuming no detours). Yes, it's going to happen though. There's just too much linking Big Mom to the place that isn't resolved. I'm not going to really dwell on this point much. I think she'll be there as her O-Lin persona and not Big Mom, and it'll be to resolve all this stuff.
Gerd will be there, Olin will be in her fairly innocent persona, and she'll get a wee bit of a happy ending with the Giants forgiving her for something that really wasn't her fault. And she'll get to have her dream f living with a load of big people. Now, speaking of big people, there's a further, last point.
Gigantification
This one, I'm not sure if it'll make its way into Elbaf, or if it's the set up for the arc. Depends on Oda. We know he's wanting to finish sooner rather than later. That's obviously not going to happen in his five year plan that he talked about, but it could see him maybe cutting corners and sticking Vegapunk's and his experiments in Elbaf. We know from Carmel's backstory up there that the Wotld Gov does have at least some links with Elbaf. Might we see Vegapunk take the kids from Punk Hazard there to try and cure them? Might that be where he's conducting some more gigantification research? Use actual Giants to try and copy their genetic marker or some such sciencey babble?
It's been a while since we've had a Smoker arc, and it could be interesting if Barty does show up with the Fleet on Elbaf and Smoker's there as well with the kids- they should know each other from Loguetown.
Either way, Oda's been bubbling this gigantification plot in the background for a while, it would make a certain narrative sense to conclude it in the land of the giants. And we can then get Vegapunk's heavy Devil Fruit exposition leading into the last war.
Anyway, that's all I've got right now.
Thoughts?
Usopp
Usopp's the obvious first pick. His interest with Elbaf started with Dorry and Broggy.
He's been fascinated by Giants, particularly Elbaf giants, every since. Usopp's ties to Elbaf is the longest running link between a character and a location we've had in One Piece. He interacts with Giants again on EL, with Oimo and Kashii inviting him to go to Elbaf with them, then in Dressrosa again after the timeskip we see Usopp again expressing his desire to go there
Now what's interesting about Usopp and Elbaf is that it's tied to his dream. He wants to be a braved man of the seas. When he sees Dorry and Broggy, he realises that's what it means to achieve his dream, to be like them.
This then leads to the next potential plot point of Elbaf:
The Red Hair Pirates
Why does Usopp want to be a brave man of the seas? Because of this
It's what his father is. So there's two things associated with Usopp's dream, his father and the Elbaf Giants. I think it would make sense, for a storytelling perspective, for Usopp to achieve his dream in Elbaf, and for both to be there. And there's another thing that supports this. We know who's crew Yasopp is on. And going into Wano, what did we see from his captain?
If Shanks and Luffy are looking to meet up soon, Elbaf seems the best place to do it, because there we can also get a meaningful Usopp and Yasopp reunion. Note that Luffy also was very impressed by Dorry and Broggy back on Little Garden- their duel that Nami thought was stupid is actually, in Luffy (and probably therefore Oda's) view, a great example of the manly romantic nature of adventure. Elbaf's a good thematic place then for Luffy and Shanks to fulfill their manly promise to each other. There's also some potential Luffy/Giant links between the Giant Strawhat on Maryjois, Saul's family being D's and the theme of Luffy's G3 gigantification abilities, to suggest that Oda is setting up that Joy Boy was a giant and Luffy is his reincarnation, but there's not much else to go on there.
Now, there isn't anything yet solidly linking Shanks and Elbaf- though I'm aware of the past theory connecting his ship design to traditional Viking ships, and I think it's a good one and on the right track. Even with just speculation, though, I think that if Elbaf is going to be linked with a Yonko, Shanks will be the one. He might not be a giant himself, but I think Oda would consider him to have similar giantish attributes of being manly and so on. We know Big Mom failed to ally with them- that doesn't mean that no other Yonko has. Kaido's obviously not done it, I doubt they'd like Blackbeard- unless Loki is a shit and is ruining the place- which is very possible. So Shanks (or WB in the past) seem very possible allies to him.
Also, if Shanks comes up there's always the chance for two other fan favourites very associated with him.
And Buggy Sama.
Anyway, next point.
The Strawhat Grand Fleet
I think Elbaf is where the Grand Fleet is going to be fulfilling this bit of foreshadowing
Now, the first reason for that is that we are guaranteed to have at least one member of the crew there- Hajrudin. Hajrudin, as we know, is from Elbaf, and wants to be the King of the Giants. Just makes sense he's going to have a big role in the Giant arc.
Also, one of his crewmates, Stansen, foreshadowed meeting up with the crew again
Note how this is framed as him talking to Usopp, again linking Usopp with the Giants.
Why I don't think the Grand Fleet will show up on Wano is that, based on what Oda said in that narrators box, the Grand Fleet are going to cause a massive incident. Cause is the main word there, it means they are going to start it. That obviously hasn't been the case in Wano. A Strawhat allied captain becoming King of the Giants could certainly be considered cause of a historic incident, and if Shanks and Elbaf are linked, well, we could have already seen the start of this particular plot thread
Hajrudin going to Elbaf to be King, Barty picking a fight with their potential main ally Shanks- that's got the ingredients for a major storm brewing with two out of the seven captains being big players. We might also see Leo take Pound in pursuit of Lola and Chiffon- Lola, as we know, having a big link to Loki. Seems likely Oda might want those two interacting at some point. Speaking of Lola, what about her mother, eh?
Big Mom
No, I'm not looking forward to her being there for a third straight arc (assuming no detours). Yes, it's going to happen though. There's just too much linking Big Mom to the place that isn't resolved. I'm not going to really dwell on this point much. I think she'll be there as her O-Lin persona and not Big Mom, and it'll be to resolve all this stuff.
Gerd will be there, Olin will be in her fairly innocent persona, and she'll get a wee bit of a happy ending with the Giants forgiving her for something that really wasn't her fault. And she'll get to have her dream f living with a load of big people. Now, speaking of big people, there's a further, last point.
Gigantification
This one, I'm not sure if it'll make its way into Elbaf, or if it's the set up for the arc. Depends on Oda. We know he's wanting to finish sooner rather than later. That's obviously not going to happen in his five year plan that he talked about, but it could see him maybe cutting corners and sticking Vegapunk's and his experiments in Elbaf. We know from Carmel's backstory up there that the Wotld Gov does have at least some links with Elbaf. Might we see Vegapunk take the kids from Punk Hazard there to try and cure them? Might that be where he's conducting some more gigantification research? Use actual Giants to try and copy their genetic marker or some such sciencey babble?
It's been a while since we've had a Smoker arc, and it could be interesting if Barty does show up with the Fleet on Elbaf and Smoker's there as well with the kids- they should know each other from Loguetown.
Either way, Oda's been bubbling this gigantification plot in the background for a while, it would make a certain narrative sense to conclude it in the land of the giants. And we can then get Vegapunk's heavy Devil Fruit exposition leading into the last war.
Anyway, that's all I've got right now.
Thoughts?
