Here are all the criteria that a character must meet to be the silhouetted figure:
-Be a friend of Crocus
-Be an old man
-Be capable of sailing all the way to Elbaf by themselves
-Be a former pirate
-Be very strong
-Currently be on Elbaf
And some criteria the figure is very, very likely to meet, but technically not required:
-Not be an evil person. Ripley and Colon seem to be good people, so it’d be weird if Colon’s dad was actually an evil scumbag like Xebec.
-Be capable of mating with Ripley 15-25 years ago at least. We don’t know Colon’s age yet, but he seems to be comparable to a 7-10 year old human. Seeing as how giants live nearly three times longer than humans, that’d mean Colon would probably have to be somewhere between 15-25 years old imo. Hajrudin was 18 years old in BM’s flashback, despite looking roughly Colon’s age.
The fact that the figure needs to be old, a “former” pirate, and considered to be strong even this late in the story pretty much narrows the possibilities down to only a former Rocks Pirate or former Roger Pirate. Meaning the possibilities consist of:
-Scopper Gaban
-Shiki
-Wang Zhi
-Silver Axe
-Xebec
Sure, the figure technically could be another former Roger Pirate that isn’t named Roger, Ray, Gaban, Crocus, Shanks, or Buggy, but the rest of the Roger Pirates are so comically irrelevant that it would be pretty absurd to be one of them. These guys have only had their names revealed in a random magazine, and many of them haven’t even been properly drawn in the manga (and those who have are only background characters in a panel or two)
The figure also could technically be an unnamed Rocks Pirate or unnamed pirate from an unnamed legendary crew, but there would be no excitement in that and would just leave the audience stretching their heads at why this guy was never alluded to before.
So, returning to the 5 major candidates I mentioned earlier, let’s go over the 5 of them from least to most likely imo
Wang Zhi: All we know about this guy is that he was a former Rocks Pirate who made a name for himself, and ruled over Hachinosu until BB took over a year ago. So he does meet the criteria of being a strong, old, former pirate. However, him ruling over Hachinosu while still being a good and loyal husband to Ripley doesn’t make much sense. In order for it to be Wang Zhi, you’d have to believe that Ripley, Colon, and the rest of Elbaf were a-ok with Wang Zhi being an absent father, that Wang Zhi decided to sail all the way around the Grand Line right after BB deposed him, and that Wang Zhi is friends with Crocus for some reason (despite being a former Rocks Pirate).
Rocks D. Xebec: We don’t know if he died or not at GV, so there’s a chance he could be alive and be Colon’s dad. However, Xebec seems way too evil to be a wifeguy to Ripley. He was presumably so evil that Roger would prefer to let the CDs have their way than let Rocks win at GV, so him being friends with Crocus would be really absurd. Also, Xebec is honestly too hyped up to be the Elbaf silhouette. The silhouette has hype, but not Rocks D. Xebec levels of hype.
Shiki: As with Xebec, Shiki just seems too evil to be the type of guy who would settle down with Ripley and be a loyal father and husband. And him being friends with Roger’s doctor would be pretty bizarre.
Silver Axe: We know next to nothing about this guy, which honestly works in his favor. Unlike with Xebec and Shiki, there’s a chance that he could actually be a good guy. There’s a chance that he could have betrayed Rocks at GV and befriended Crocus that way. However, from an out-of-universe perspective, there would be little to no hype in revealing that the mystery guy is just some dude who got name dropped one time in some throwaway dialogue and was never portrayed to be very relevant. However, this is Oda we’re talking about, the same guy who hyped the shit out of Kawamatsu’s silhouette, only for Kawamatsu to not even be very strong in the grand scheme of things and also accomplish nothing during the rest of Wano.
-Scopper Gaban: An old, former pirate who was very strong, would be friends with Crocus, had plenty of time to start a family with Ripley, is almost certainly a good person, and also serve a purpose in the story beyond just being some random strong guy.
-Be a friend of Crocus
-Be an old man
-Be capable of sailing all the way to Elbaf by themselves
-Be a former pirate
-Be very strong
-Currently be on Elbaf
And some criteria the figure is very, very likely to meet, but technically not required:
-Not be an evil person. Ripley and Colon seem to be good people, so it’d be weird if Colon’s dad was actually an evil scumbag like Xebec.
-Be capable of mating with Ripley 15-25 years ago at least. We don’t know Colon’s age yet, but he seems to be comparable to a 7-10 year old human. Seeing as how giants live nearly three times longer than humans, that’d mean Colon would probably have to be somewhere between 15-25 years old imo. Hajrudin was 18 years old in BM’s flashback, despite looking roughly Colon’s age.
The fact that the figure needs to be old, a “former” pirate, and considered to be strong even this late in the story pretty much narrows the possibilities down to only a former Rocks Pirate or former Roger Pirate. Meaning the possibilities consist of:
-Scopper Gaban
-Shiki
-Wang Zhi
-Silver Axe
-Xebec
Sure, the figure technically could be another former Roger Pirate that isn’t named Roger, Ray, Gaban, Crocus, Shanks, or Buggy, but the rest of the Roger Pirates are so comically irrelevant that it would be pretty absurd to be one of them. These guys have only had their names revealed in a random magazine, and many of them haven’t even been properly drawn in the manga (and those who have are only background characters in a panel or two)
The figure also could technically be an unnamed Rocks Pirate or unnamed pirate from an unnamed legendary crew, but there would be no excitement in that and would just leave the audience stretching their heads at why this guy was never alluded to before.
So, returning to the 5 major candidates I mentioned earlier, let’s go over the 5 of them from least to most likely imo
Wang Zhi: All we know about this guy is that he was a former Rocks Pirate who made a name for himself, and ruled over Hachinosu until BB took over a year ago. So he does meet the criteria of being a strong, old, former pirate. However, him ruling over Hachinosu while still being a good and loyal husband to Ripley doesn’t make much sense. In order for it to be Wang Zhi, you’d have to believe that Ripley, Colon, and the rest of Elbaf were a-ok with Wang Zhi being an absent father, that Wang Zhi decided to sail all the way around the Grand Line right after BB deposed him, and that Wang Zhi is friends with Crocus for some reason (despite being a former Rocks Pirate).
Rocks D. Xebec: We don’t know if he died or not at GV, so there’s a chance he could be alive and be Colon’s dad. However, Xebec seems way too evil to be a wifeguy to Ripley. He was presumably so evil that Roger would prefer to let the CDs have their way than let Rocks win at GV, so him being friends with Crocus would be really absurd. Also, Xebec is honestly too hyped up to be the Elbaf silhouette. The silhouette has hype, but not Rocks D. Xebec levels of hype.
Shiki: As with Xebec, Shiki just seems too evil to be the type of guy who would settle down with Ripley and be a loyal father and husband. And him being friends with Roger’s doctor would be pretty bizarre.
Silver Axe: We know next to nothing about this guy, which honestly works in his favor. Unlike with Xebec and Shiki, there’s a chance that he could actually be a good guy. There’s a chance that he could have betrayed Rocks at GV and befriended Crocus that way. However, from an out-of-universe perspective, there would be little to no hype in revealing that the mystery guy is just some dude who got name dropped one time in some throwaway dialogue and was never portrayed to be very relevant. However, this is Oda we’re talking about, the same guy who hyped the shit out of Kawamatsu’s silhouette, only for Kawamatsu to not even be very strong in the grand scheme of things and also accomplish nothing during the rest of Wano.
-Scopper Gaban: An old, former pirate who was very strong, would be friends with Crocus, had plenty of time to start a family with Ripley, is almost certainly a good person, and also serve a purpose in the story beyond just being some random strong guy.
