Disclaimer: This theory heavily relies on background knowledge discussed in several past theories and threads pertaining to Monet. As those theories are quite long, I have summarized the most key points of evidence with citations in the spoiler below. I've done what I can to make the current theory understandable on its own, but the information provided below may help clarify some points that I gloss over within this theory. If anything remains unclear, please let me know.
Introduction
Hello, everyone!
Gosh, it's been about a year and a half since I last posted a theory. Approaching the end of the series and having questions be answered left and right doesn't really leave much room for theorizing, at least not the way I do it. As I'm sure you've noticed, I prefer to make broader, long-term predictions of where the story is approximately heading based on previously established patterns or hints rather than trying to predict the immediate next chapter. I've been burned in the past when I tried something like that back during Whole Cake Island only for it to turn out that the chapter had already leaked and people treated it like I'd just deliberately ignored the details of a chapter I hadn't even read yet. So that was fun.
However, 1072 isn't set to come out for another week and a half, so I'm...reasonably sure that it hasn't leaked yet. ...Right? If it has, please be respectful and keep it to yourself, I don't want to see anything about it until I can at least read the fan translation.
Anyway, 1071 sees Vegapunk and the Straw Hats planning their egress from Egghead as CP0 invades and takes possession of the Seraphim. With all ships other than the Sunny destroyed and all paths blocked off, combat seems inevitable. Vegapunk laments the loss of Sentomaru, and Pythagoras suggests the possibility of enlisting the help of their last remaining ally on Egghead. Edison objects, as definitively siding with Vegapunk in this instance would result in this person being labeled an enemy of the government, forcing them from their home. Naturally, Vegapunk immediately and shamelessly asks for help, much to his offshoots' surprise.
The person on the other side of the call naturally agrees without hesitation, claiming that they've actually been waiting for the order. So the question now is who this mystery voice belongs to.
Who could it possibly b- Monet. It's Monet. You all know I'm going to say it's Monet. No sense in beating around the bush.
Evidence
As you may recall from my Grand Monet Theory, I suggested that Monet would reappear in the at-the-time-unnamed Vegapunk arc either as an assistant or just hanging around in secret. Whatever role she would play, the basis of my theory was that she followed the gigantified children from Punk Hazard, and who did we see at the G-14 naval base the next island over from Egghead at the very beginning of this arc in 1061? That's right, the children, taking anti-gigantification medicine.
Aww, look, they're even in a room with the same wallpaper as the Biscuits Room! I'm sure that's not traumatic for them or anything.
I may have said that the Straw Hats would deliberately go to see Vegapunk because of Momo's "failed" cloned Fish-Fish Fruit or because they were looking for a cure for SMILEs, but I was just trying to think of reasons for them to go to Egghead from Wano and didn't want to suggest that they'd just happen to go that way. Guess that was just me trying too hard to justify it when it turns out all I needed was the narrative motivation of introducing Vegapunk in the first place.
So the children are confirmed to have been delivered to and are receiving treatment from Vegapunk, just as I said they would, and the Straw Hats (and Bonney) have arrived at Egghead to meet (and in Bonney's case, confront) Vegapunk, just as I said they would. Vegapunk being seven people was a bit of a surprise, and sadly it looks like the focus of this arc is quite definitively not a space race as I'd hoped, but it's interesting that Vegapunk's Satellites are all named after asteroids, implying that there will be some kind of connection between Vegapunk in space. This is further compounded by the existence of the Automata in Vegapunk's home island of Karakuri as well as on the Moon, but we're not here to discuss whether or not the crew will be going to the Moon, we're here to discuss if the person he's calling for help from is Monet.
There isn't a whole lot to go on from just this one panel, but there isn't nothing to go on, either. Not to belabor a point, but the fact that the setup for the general scenario I predicted has come to pass is a pretty good argument in and of itself, but there's also information to be gleaned both from what we are and are not shown.
Within the panel itself, we're shown Vegapunk calling someone on a Den Den Mushi, and said person responding "I've been waiting for your order." Now, would you happen to recall what was happening the last time we saw Monet? In 693, she was receiving a call from Doflamingo, who was about to order her to sacrifice herself, only for her to reveal that she was way ahead of him and had been prepared to do exactly that for some time.
Even in her last confirmed living panel in 694, Doflamingo is still on the line, desperately calling for a response from her.
How fitting then that, if Monet's last panel had her unable to answer a call, her reappearance be marked with her answering the call of someone more worthy of her loyalty?
Don't forget, helping Vegapunk in this moment is a choice of great sacrifice; whatever life this person has on Egghead will be forfeit the moment that they show they are on Vegapunk's side. For someone to so instantly decide and have long since been prepared to make the decision that their livelihood was worth giving up for Vegapunk, they must be extremely loyal to him already. Just as Sentomaru's life was apparently saved by Vegapunk, this person must have a similar reason to feel indebted to him, and Monet's attachment to the children is a perfect vehicle for that sort of loyalty to be born. It's also possible that Vegapunk saved Monet's life too by doing something with her heart, but I think that would be a less interesting motivating factor for Monet.
It's also quite telling that we don't see the Den Den Mushi's eyes, as they are covered by the person's speech bubble. For those who haven't noticed, Den Den Mushi change shape to mimic the person whose voice they're projecting, as we're reminded of later in this chapter with Garp's bearded and bushy-browed Den Den Mushi.
If it were a character we've never met, there'd be no reason to obscure the eyes, and in fact having the eyes be visible or even just a silhouette would be a good way to hype up this new character. Therefore, it is most likely a returning character. If we were to see the Den Den Mushi's eyes, I imagine we would either see Monet's characteristic eyelashes or her coke-bottle glasses, either of which would have been a pretty good giveaway.
Also, it doesn't really carry in the English translation, but the voice apparently speaks very politely, which is definitely how I would expect Monet to talk to someone who she considers her benefactor. I'll admit, I haven't read the original Japanese for Monet's dialogue so I'm not sure if this is consistent with how she talks, but I at least get the impression from how she's translated that this could easily be the case.
There's also one more detail I think that's worth noting: the timing.
Monet supposedly died in chapter 694, which first premiered on January 4th of 2013. Chapter 1071, meanwhile, premiered on January 7th of 2023, as close to exactly ten years following Monet's death as a weekly magazine could allow. Even better, 1072 is set to premiere on January 22nd, ten years after 695's premiere on January 21st. Chapter 695 was the origin of the panel that sparked this entire controversy in the first place: Monet's unstabbed heart.
Would it not be amazing timing for the mystery of Monet to be settled exactly at the ten-year mark? And during the Year of the Rabbit, too! Perhaps her Snow Rabbits attack was foreshadowing in and of itself too, huh?
I don't know if I'm necessarily willing to believe that was on purpose, but I am willing to believe that Oda noticed the opportunity and decided to jump on it.
As a final note, I will remind everyone of an old Oda quote that went around several years ago but seems to have subsided as of late. In an interview with the China Times in 2014, Oda said, and I quote, “There’s going to be more (crewmates) appearing successively!” We just got Jinbe at the end of Wano and did not see Carrot, Yamato, Tama, or anyone else join, so the only way to really interpret successively at this point is "in the arc after Jinbe joins." As it happens, we are in the arc after Jinbe's official recruitment, and the puzzle pieces have lined up quite well with my predictions from two years ago.
Alternatives
I've seen some people suggest that the mystery individual is Kuma with his mind implanted in a new body, but that doesn't really make sense with Edison's objection. If the original Kuma is on the island, "siding with Vegapunk" is not the reason that the World Government would label him an enemy. While the idea of Kuma being on the island is interesting and makes sense conceptually, the context that we're learning of this doesn't really seem to line up.
Similarly, Scopper Gaban seems to be a common prediction, but seriously, the man was a Roger Pirate. Even if he's undercover, the concern wouldn't be siding with Vegapunk, but revealing his location to the Marines. Monet, though? I'm not sure the Marines even know she exists. She was an undercover agent for the Donquixote Pirates, the whole point of her was that she wasn't known to anybody so she could infiltrate other organizations. We know for a fact that Doflamingo was able to cover up his infiltrators quite well, as Vergo was able to slip into the Marines themselves without suspicion despite how lauded the Marines' information network has been across the series. It's not hard to imagine that, as far as Vegapunk is concerned, Monet is just a citizen with a weird, interesting body, whereas there's no way in hell he wouldn't know who Scopper Gaban of the Roger Pirates is.
Artur of the Library of Ohara suggested on twitter that it may be Stussy, which is definitely possible since she was apparently a member of MADS, but I just don't get the impression that she would have been able to answer a Den Den Mushi and talk to Vegapunk while standing right next to Lucci.
Between the three of them, Kuma and Stussy seem like the most likely to talk politely to Vegapunk, but Gaban and Kuma are the only ones I could see having an immediately recognizable Den Den Mushi with Gaban's sunglasses or Kuma's bear ears. Again, though, only Monet has both of those aspects while also having any reason to fear being chased by the World Government considering that she has lost the support of her original crew and isn't a strong enough fighter to survive independently. With all of the factors at our disposal, I just can't justify thinking that this person is any of the people I've seen suggested other than Monet.
Of course I acknowledge the possibility that I'm wrong, but Oda has never given me better reason to think that I might actually be right, and I would be a fool to ignore this opportunity to forever cement my legacy as The Monet Guy. And if I am wrong, well, then at least I was on brand to the end.
So now, possibly for the last time...
Let's Review
Monet was last seen speaking over a Den Den Mushi with Doflamingo, who was asking her to sacrifice herself for him, and now, exactly ten years later, Vegapunk is calling someone with a very similar request and received a similar response. The Den Den Mushi's features are obscured, thus obscuring the features of the person on the other end, which implies that the features would be recognizable, such as Monet's glasses or eyelashes.
Characters like Scopper Gaban, Kuma's consciousness, and even Stussy have been suggested as possibilities for who the voice belongs to, but neither Gaban nor Kuma would actually be sacrificing anything to make the Marines their enemies as they are already considered criminals, and Stussy doesn't seem to have the opportunity to be the one speaking to Vegapunk. The revelation that Stussy is a MADS-created clone and her betrayal of CP0 seem to imply that she is Vegapunk's ally, but the way that Shaka treats the situation and Stussy's inaction at the destruction of the lab both imply that this is a red herring and Stussy may have other motivations.
It was previously predicted that Monet would be on Vegapunk's island because of the Punk Hazard children, who were seen at the very beginning of this arc, almost as if to remind us of the events of Punk Hazard and to prime us for Monet's return. If Monet truly did follow the children out of a sense of duty or love towards them, then it would be natural for Monet to feel the same type of loyalty towards Vegapunk that prompted her to sacrifice herself for Doflamingo all those years ago (or months, in context).
Final Thoughts
I know I said last time that my theory days were likely over, but I never anticipated at the time that Monet's return would have such a clear tease; I expected her to just kind of show up out of the blue, either being the one to save the Straw Hats from a threat the way that Lilith did in 1061 or to just be waiting behind a door with no build up. Honestly the main prediction that I seem to have gotten right was that I'd be wrong about the specifics and that the final product would be much better executed than I could anticipate. I never would have imagined that one single panel would build this much suspense for me, and that's certainly not an effect that I'd ever have been able to write myself.
I will say that while I am wholeheartedly placing my bets on 1072, it's not as if I'm not hedging my bets at all. As some of you may have seen recently, I posted that I've made a bit of a wager with myself: I am giving Monet until the end of the year to return, regardless of how Egghead turns out. If Monet returns at any point this year, then from that month on, I will be creating monthly outfit designs based on what I think Monet would have worn in any given arc had she joined the Straw Hats from the very beginning until the final arc, possibly including special sets like certain color pages and the Film series along the way. If by 2024 Monet has not returned or the final chapter of 2023 doesn't give any indication that she might return, then I will officially accept Monet's death and publicly post a eulogy for her as a sort of funeral. Considering how close we are to the end of the series, I have trouble seeing how she could return and make a meaningful impact on the story past this year, as I imagine 2024 will see the Straw Hats entering one of the two major final confrontations against either the Marines or Blackbeard. I'll likely still have hope in my heart, but I won't live in denial. At that point the best we could hope for is to see Monet in a background scene, but the Straw Hats entering the final battle without her seems like it'd be pretty undeniable confirmation that she's not going to be a part of it.
Regardless of whether Monet will come back in 1072, by the end of 2023, or not at all, the Knock-Up Stream is coming, my friends. Will I make it to the White Sea, or will I come crashing back down to the Blue? It won't be much longer until we know for sure, but either way, I've made my choice and I'm going to sail until I find my answer.
See you all at Sky Island,
-Tokiro Oumaga
1. Monet is alive - though Caesar is shown stabbing Monet's heart and she is shown passing out (ch. 694, pgs. 12 and 13), we are also shown that the shrapnel her heart was stabbed with did not actually become embedded into her heart (ch. 695, pg. 5). Due to the deformation on her heart when it was being stabbed, we can infer that after making contact, Caesar's hand slipped, causing him to stab into the dock instead of actually piercing the heart before passing out. Though the anime version of this scene focuses on the shrapnel buried in the heart and the heart stopping, this is not at all how the event is portrayed in the manga and can easily be retconned to be what Caesar thought was happening. We already know from Law's heart being struck by Caesar that any impact to the heart is enough to knock someone out and cause them to spit up blood (ch. 675, pg. 11), so it's not hard to imagine that an already weakened Monet being stabbed so suddenly would pass out regardless of how serious the damage is.
2. Monet will join the Straw Hat Crew - just like Nami and Robin, Monet is the first female subordinate of a major enemy crew that the Straw Hats met in their respective sea (the Donquixote Pirates of the New World) who has a scholarly interest (astronomy, seen among her books in ch. 666, pg. 6) that might prove useful to Luffy in finding the One Piece (the moon is heavily implied to be an important factor in the world's history by the lunar city of Birka in ch. 470 and 472's cover pages) and is implied to be kinder than she initially appears (Monet is the one to suggest Law heal the convicts in ch. 666, pg. 6). Coupled with Luffy's love of snow and her surprisingly shy personality (Monet being weak to compliments in ch. 686, pg. 17) that would give a lot of opportunity for comedy with the crew, it's easy to see how she would fit in with the Straw Hats. If the Moon is indeed an important plot point, either because the Straw Hats will need to fly to it or use the lunar cycle as some kind of hint to finding the One Piece, Monet's knowledge of astronomy would likely prove a vital asset.
3. Monet has many lingering mysteries - despite being seen with her human arms multiple times, there is precisely one panel where she is shown with a tattoo that is suspiciously obscured by a speech bubble (ch.686, pg. 6), implying that the tattoo is of some significance, perhaps relating to a major pirate crew (seeming to resemble a Jolly Roger in profile). It is also never elaborated on why Monet asked Law to replace her limbs, only that she did in fact make the request (Vivre Card Databook). With the revelation that King's winged race is known as the Lunarians, implying a relationship with the Moon, the fact that Monet is interested in astronomy and deliberately chose to become a winged individual seems to imply some connection to or knowledge of the Lunarians. We still don't know what kind of life Doflamingo saved her from, it only being described as a "misfortunate environment" (vol. 77 SBS, pg. 116), so it's possible that a Lunarian was involved in her past and was killed by the people who gave Monet her tattoo. We also have yet to learn her real name, as all Donquixote Pirates save for Law used codenames, so it's possible that said Lunarian's name was Monet. In this scenario, Monet's real name may be something like Happy (Oda has a habit of naming background characters based on words he puts on their shirts, which in turn describe what they're saying in the scene, so naming Monet Happy because of the pun on Harpy on her shirt is not unprecedented), which would allow her to fit in with the long-standing Straw Hat Alphabet theory (the Straw Hats each represent a pair of letters in the alphabet, such as AB=Brook; Monet could not work because MN=Nami, but there are currently no GH, OP, or WX Straw Hats).
4. Monet will most likely reappear on Egghead - despite having a duty to protect Doflamingo's investment in the SAD, Monet prioritizes protecting the children, Big Mom's investment, from the Straw Hats and G-5. When Monet says she has to protect Caesar's experiments, it almost feels like a justification for choosing the children over the SAD (ch. 686, pg. 13). She refers to herself as the children's parent (ch. 686, pg. 14), she becomes enraged at the idea of the children being taken away (ch. 686, pgs. 15 and 17), and was still trusted by Mocha even after the truth about Caesar was revealed (ch. 683, pg. 10). This all implies that Monet felt attached to the children and treated them particularly well, possibly similarly to Promised Neverland's Isabella raising her doomed children as well as she could so that their short lives could at least be happy ones. As the children were brought to Egghead to be treated by Vegapunk (ch. 1061, pg. 9) and Monet didn't show up at Dressrosa to help Doflamingo, it's possible that she followed the children to Egghead and only later learned that Doflamingo had been defeated by Luffy when it was too late to do anything about it. Because of her unique characteristics, Monet was likely welcomed by Vegapunk as a volunteer test subject in exchange for safe haven and the ability to watch over the children. As Vergo is also believed dead and Smoker and Tashigi may want to maintain the illusion that he was an imposter (ch.682, pg. 5), it seems likely that Vergo's betrayal of the Marines was never reported, so if he survived as Monet did, he likely would have been able to charter a Marine ship to transport Monet to Egghead while himself focusing on finding a way to rescue Doflamingo from Impel Down. If Monet is affiliated with Vegapunk and a trip to the Moon is necessary for finding the One Piece, then Vegapunk's scientific advancements are the most likely way that she and the Straw Hats would be able to reach the Moon. Furthermore, if Monet's backstory is related to the Lunarians and her character is heavily based on her motherly qualities, it is quite likely that Monet may form a connection with the Seraphim children, particularly S-Flamingo who resembles her former master.
2. Monet will join the Straw Hat Crew - just like Nami and Robin, Monet is the first female subordinate of a major enemy crew that the Straw Hats met in their respective sea (the Donquixote Pirates of the New World) who has a scholarly interest (astronomy, seen among her books in ch. 666, pg. 6) that might prove useful to Luffy in finding the One Piece (the moon is heavily implied to be an important factor in the world's history by the lunar city of Birka in ch. 470 and 472's cover pages) and is implied to be kinder than she initially appears (Monet is the one to suggest Law heal the convicts in ch. 666, pg. 6). Coupled with Luffy's love of snow and her surprisingly shy personality (Monet being weak to compliments in ch. 686, pg. 17) that would give a lot of opportunity for comedy with the crew, it's easy to see how she would fit in with the Straw Hats. If the Moon is indeed an important plot point, either because the Straw Hats will need to fly to it or use the lunar cycle as some kind of hint to finding the One Piece, Monet's knowledge of astronomy would likely prove a vital asset.
3. Monet has many lingering mysteries - despite being seen with her human arms multiple times, there is precisely one panel where she is shown with a tattoo that is suspiciously obscured by a speech bubble (ch.686, pg. 6), implying that the tattoo is of some significance, perhaps relating to a major pirate crew (seeming to resemble a Jolly Roger in profile). It is also never elaborated on why Monet asked Law to replace her limbs, only that she did in fact make the request (Vivre Card Databook). With the revelation that King's winged race is known as the Lunarians, implying a relationship with the Moon, the fact that Monet is interested in astronomy and deliberately chose to become a winged individual seems to imply some connection to or knowledge of the Lunarians. We still don't know what kind of life Doflamingo saved her from, it only being described as a "misfortunate environment" (vol. 77 SBS, pg. 116), so it's possible that a Lunarian was involved in her past and was killed by the people who gave Monet her tattoo. We also have yet to learn her real name, as all Donquixote Pirates save for Law used codenames, so it's possible that said Lunarian's name was Monet. In this scenario, Monet's real name may be something like Happy (Oda has a habit of naming background characters based on words he puts on their shirts, which in turn describe what they're saying in the scene, so naming Monet Happy because of the pun on Harpy on her shirt is not unprecedented), which would allow her to fit in with the long-standing Straw Hat Alphabet theory (the Straw Hats each represent a pair of letters in the alphabet, such as AB=Brook; Monet could not work because MN=Nami, but there are currently no GH, OP, or WX Straw Hats).
4. Monet will most likely reappear on Egghead - despite having a duty to protect Doflamingo's investment in the SAD, Monet prioritizes protecting the children, Big Mom's investment, from the Straw Hats and G-5. When Monet says she has to protect Caesar's experiments, it almost feels like a justification for choosing the children over the SAD (ch. 686, pg. 13). She refers to herself as the children's parent (ch. 686, pg. 14), she becomes enraged at the idea of the children being taken away (ch. 686, pgs. 15 and 17), and was still trusted by Mocha even after the truth about Caesar was revealed (ch. 683, pg. 10). This all implies that Monet felt attached to the children and treated them particularly well, possibly similarly to Promised Neverland's Isabella raising her doomed children as well as she could so that their short lives could at least be happy ones. As the children were brought to Egghead to be treated by Vegapunk (ch. 1061, pg. 9) and Monet didn't show up at Dressrosa to help Doflamingo, it's possible that she followed the children to Egghead and only later learned that Doflamingo had been defeated by Luffy when it was too late to do anything about it. Because of her unique characteristics, Monet was likely welcomed by Vegapunk as a volunteer test subject in exchange for safe haven and the ability to watch over the children. As Vergo is also believed dead and Smoker and Tashigi may want to maintain the illusion that he was an imposter (ch.682, pg. 5), it seems likely that Vergo's betrayal of the Marines was never reported, so if he survived as Monet did, he likely would have been able to charter a Marine ship to transport Monet to Egghead while himself focusing on finding a way to rescue Doflamingo from Impel Down. If Monet is affiliated with Vegapunk and a trip to the Moon is necessary for finding the One Piece, then Vegapunk's scientific advancements are the most likely way that she and the Straw Hats would be able to reach the Moon. Furthermore, if Monet's backstory is related to the Lunarians and her character is heavily based on her motherly qualities, it is quite likely that Monet may form a connection with the Seraphim children, particularly S-Flamingo who resembles her former master.
Introduction
Hello, everyone!
Gosh, it's been about a year and a half since I last posted a theory. Approaching the end of the series and having questions be answered left and right doesn't really leave much room for theorizing, at least not the way I do it. As I'm sure you've noticed, I prefer to make broader, long-term predictions of where the story is approximately heading based on previously established patterns or hints rather than trying to predict the immediate next chapter. I've been burned in the past when I tried something like that back during Whole Cake Island only for it to turn out that the chapter had already leaked and people treated it like I'd just deliberately ignored the details of a chapter I hadn't even read yet. So that was fun.
However, 1072 isn't set to come out for another week and a half, so I'm...reasonably sure that it hasn't leaked yet. ...Right? If it has, please be respectful and keep it to yourself, I don't want to see anything about it until I can at least read the fan translation.
Anyway, 1071 sees Vegapunk and the Straw Hats planning their egress from Egghead as CP0 invades and takes possession of the Seraphim. With all ships other than the Sunny destroyed and all paths blocked off, combat seems inevitable. Vegapunk laments the loss of Sentomaru, and Pythagoras suggests the possibility of enlisting the help of their last remaining ally on Egghead. Edison objects, as definitively siding with Vegapunk in this instance would result in this person being labeled an enemy of the government, forcing them from their home. Naturally, Vegapunk immediately and shamelessly asks for help, much to his offshoots' surprise.
The person on the other side of the call naturally agrees without hesitation, claiming that they've actually been waiting for the order. So the question now is who this mystery voice belongs to.
Who could it possibly b- Monet. It's Monet. You all know I'm going to say it's Monet. No sense in beating around the bush.
Evidence
As you may recall from my Grand Monet Theory, I suggested that Monet would reappear in the at-the-time-unnamed Vegapunk arc either as an assistant or just hanging around in secret. Whatever role she would play, the basis of my theory was that she followed the gigantified children from Punk Hazard, and who did we see at the G-14 naval base the next island over from Egghead at the very beginning of this arc in 1061? That's right, the children, taking anti-gigantification medicine.
Aww, look, they're even in a room with the same wallpaper as the Biscuits Room! I'm sure that's not traumatic for them or anything.
I may have said that the Straw Hats would deliberately go to see Vegapunk because of Momo's "failed" cloned Fish-Fish Fruit or because they were looking for a cure for SMILEs, but I was just trying to think of reasons for them to go to Egghead from Wano and didn't want to suggest that they'd just happen to go that way. Guess that was just me trying too hard to justify it when it turns out all I needed was the narrative motivation of introducing Vegapunk in the first place.
So the children are confirmed to have been delivered to and are receiving treatment from Vegapunk, just as I said they would, and the Straw Hats (and Bonney) have arrived at Egghead to meet (and in Bonney's case, confront) Vegapunk, just as I said they would. Vegapunk being seven people was a bit of a surprise, and sadly it looks like the focus of this arc is quite definitively not a space race as I'd hoped, but it's interesting that Vegapunk's Satellites are all named after asteroids, implying that there will be some kind of connection between Vegapunk in space. This is further compounded by the existence of the Automata in Vegapunk's home island of Karakuri as well as on the Moon, but we're not here to discuss whether or not the crew will be going to the Moon, we're here to discuss if the person he's calling for help from is Monet.
There isn't a whole lot to go on from just this one panel, but there isn't nothing to go on, either. Not to belabor a point, but the fact that the setup for the general scenario I predicted has come to pass is a pretty good argument in and of itself, but there's also information to be gleaned both from what we are and are not shown.
Within the panel itself, we're shown Vegapunk calling someone on a Den Den Mushi, and said person responding "I've been waiting for your order." Now, would you happen to recall what was happening the last time we saw Monet? In 693, she was receiving a call from Doflamingo, who was about to order her to sacrifice herself, only for her to reveal that she was way ahead of him and had been prepared to do exactly that for some time.
Even in her last confirmed living panel in 694, Doflamingo is still on the line, desperately calling for a response from her.
How fitting then that, if Monet's last panel had her unable to answer a call, her reappearance be marked with her answering the call of someone more worthy of her loyalty?
Don't forget, helping Vegapunk in this moment is a choice of great sacrifice; whatever life this person has on Egghead will be forfeit the moment that they show they are on Vegapunk's side. For someone to so instantly decide and have long since been prepared to make the decision that their livelihood was worth giving up for Vegapunk, they must be extremely loyal to him already. Just as Sentomaru's life was apparently saved by Vegapunk, this person must have a similar reason to feel indebted to him, and Monet's attachment to the children is a perfect vehicle for that sort of loyalty to be born. It's also possible that Vegapunk saved Monet's life too by doing something with her heart, but I think that would be a less interesting motivating factor for Monet.
It's also quite telling that we don't see the Den Den Mushi's eyes, as they are covered by the person's speech bubble. For those who haven't noticed, Den Den Mushi change shape to mimic the person whose voice they're projecting, as we're reminded of later in this chapter with Garp's bearded and bushy-browed Den Den Mushi.
If it were a character we've never met, there'd be no reason to obscure the eyes, and in fact having the eyes be visible or even just a silhouette would be a good way to hype up this new character. Therefore, it is most likely a returning character. If we were to see the Den Den Mushi's eyes, I imagine we would either see Monet's characteristic eyelashes or her coke-bottle glasses, either of which would have been a pretty good giveaway.
Also, it doesn't really carry in the English translation, but the voice apparently speaks very politely, which is definitely how I would expect Monet to talk to someone who she considers her benefactor. I'll admit, I haven't read the original Japanese for Monet's dialogue so I'm not sure if this is consistent with how she talks, but I at least get the impression from how she's translated that this could easily be the case.
There's also one more detail I think that's worth noting: the timing.
Monet supposedly died in chapter 694, which first premiered on January 4th of 2013. Chapter 1071, meanwhile, premiered on January 7th of 2023, as close to exactly ten years following Monet's death as a weekly magazine could allow. Even better, 1072 is set to premiere on January 22nd, ten years after 695's premiere on January 21st. Chapter 695 was the origin of the panel that sparked this entire controversy in the first place: Monet's unstabbed heart.
Would it not be amazing timing for the mystery of Monet to be settled exactly at the ten-year mark? And during the Year of the Rabbit, too! Perhaps her Snow Rabbits attack was foreshadowing in and of itself too, huh?
I don't know if I'm necessarily willing to believe that was on purpose, but I am willing to believe that Oda noticed the opportunity and decided to jump on it.
As a final note, I will remind everyone of an old Oda quote that went around several years ago but seems to have subsided as of late. In an interview with the China Times in 2014, Oda said, and I quote, “There’s going to be more (crewmates) appearing successively!” We just got Jinbe at the end of Wano and did not see Carrot, Yamato, Tama, or anyone else join, so the only way to really interpret successively at this point is "in the arc after Jinbe joins." As it happens, we are in the arc after Jinbe's official recruitment, and the puzzle pieces have lined up quite well with my predictions from two years ago.
Alternatives
I've seen some people suggest that the mystery individual is Kuma with his mind implanted in a new body, but that doesn't really make sense with Edison's objection. If the original Kuma is on the island, "siding with Vegapunk" is not the reason that the World Government would label him an enemy. While the idea of Kuma being on the island is interesting and makes sense conceptually, the context that we're learning of this doesn't really seem to line up.
Similarly, Scopper Gaban seems to be a common prediction, but seriously, the man was a Roger Pirate. Even if he's undercover, the concern wouldn't be siding with Vegapunk, but revealing his location to the Marines. Monet, though? I'm not sure the Marines even know she exists. She was an undercover agent for the Donquixote Pirates, the whole point of her was that she wasn't known to anybody so she could infiltrate other organizations. We know for a fact that Doflamingo was able to cover up his infiltrators quite well, as Vergo was able to slip into the Marines themselves without suspicion despite how lauded the Marines' information network has been across the series. It's not hard to imagine that, as far as Vegapunk is concerned, Monet is just a citizen with a weird, interesting body, whereas there's no way in hell he wouldn't know who Scopper Gaban of the Roger Pirates is.
Artur of the Library of Ohara suggested on twitter that it may be Stussy, which is definitely possible since she was apparently a member of MADS, but I just don't get the impression that she would have been able to answer a Den Den Mushi and talk to Vegapunk while standing right next to Lucci.
Between the three of them, Kuma and Stussy seem like the most likely to talk politely to Vegapunk, but Gaban and Kuma are the only ones I could see having an immediately recognizable Den Den Mushi with Gaban's sunglasses or Kuma's bear ears. Again, though, only Monet has both of those aspects while also having any reason to fear being chased by the World Government considering that she has lost the support of her original crew and isn't a strong enough fighter to survive independently. With all of the factors at our disposal, I just can't justify thinking that this person is any of the people I've seen suggested other than Monet.
Of course I acknowledge the possibility that I'm wrong, but Oda has never given me better reason to think that I might actually be right, and I would be a fool to ignore this opportunity to forever cement my legacy as The Monet Guy. And if I am wrong, well, then at least I was on brand to the end.
In the time since I first posted this theory, ch. 1072 has come and gone, and Stussy has in fact betrayed CP0 by first knocking out Kaku with a sneak attack and now has her sights set on Lucci.
We learn that Stussy is actually a clone of former Rocks Pirate Miss Buckingham Stussy (easily the most surprising way Oda could have confirmed that Miss Buckin/Bakkin was in fact a Rocks Pirate as many had theorized), and that she was created by MADS, explaining why she stated she "[hadn't] been [to Egghead] in ages" in ch.1068. This would strongly suggest that she was in fact the one that Vegapunk called, as this establishes a very clear relationship between the two of them.
I acknowledge that Monet's chances for returning in this instance have now dramatically slimmed, but they have not been reduced to zero quite yet. Notably, we have not yet learned Stussy's motivations for her actions here, so there's any number of reasons why she could be betraying Lucci.
Being the clone of a Rocks Pirate, she could just as easily be associated with Blackbeard, who has taken up residence at the former headquarters of the Rocks Pirates. Perhaps she's trying to capture Vegapunk to bring his technology to Blackbeard rather than to leave it in the hands of the World Government?
Or maybe she's working for the Revolutionaries and is legitimately trying to save Vegapunk independently of Vegapunk asking her to do so? She already works undercover as one of the heads of the criminal underworld for CP0, it wouldn't be odd for her to be undercover as a member of CP0 for the Revolutionaries to undermine the World Government from within.
Also, the events of this chapter don't really seem to line up with the idea that she's explicitly Vegapunk's ally. Not only did Stussy do nothing to prevent the Seraphim from destroying the lab on Lucci's order, which could easily have gotten Vegapunk killed and thus causing her to fail in that particular mission...
...but Shaka still seems to consider Stussy a threat.
At first, Nami and Usopp assume that Zoro and Brook only have to fend off Lucci, Kaku and Stussy, claiming it to be a 2-on-3 match-up, but Shaka notes that "the odds are worse than that" as the Seraphim arrive. When the group changes their estimation to 2-on-7, Shaka doesn't correct them by saying that it's 3-on-6, and instead focuses on sending Edison and Lilith to overtake CP0's priority in the Seraphim's chain of command to turn the tide. If Stussy were on Vegapunk's side, Shaka would presumably consider her an asset that would offset Lucci's priority and at least bring the Seraphim to a halt with conflicting orders of the same priority. The fact that Shaka does not take Stussy's allegiance into consideration when assessing the situation suggests that it wasn't a factor he was aware of.
Of course, this could just be Oda not wanting to give the game away early, but I don't think he would have any of the Vegapunks completely ignore such an obvious piece on the board. Furthermore, Oda does have a tendency to use misdirects like this, giving us information that seems to fit one scenario only to reveal another entirely. For example, at the start of the chapter, we see a narration from Vegapunk chronicling the artificial creation of a human life.
By the end of the chapter, we learn that Stussy is the first successful clone created by MADS, so naturally, we would conclude that the "undeniable human being" that MADS has created and that people might disagree with the creation of is Stussy. However, as we move on from that narration, who do we see? Bonney, reverting to her child form and crying on the floor in the fetal position.
The imagery of a child crying while we learn of a controversial way for a human to be brought into the world? That really feels like the narration is meant to refer to her. Admittedly, I actually spent the first half of the chapter thinking this only to turn around once we learned that Stussy was a clone, but I think that it's actually a double-fake. We were supposed to think that it wasn't actually referring to Bonney, when in fact it was! I won't go into it since it's not my theory, but Artur's theory that Bonney is actually a clone of Big Mom could well back up this point.
If Stussy is meant to be a red herring for Bonney, I wouldn't be surprised if she's also meant to be a red herring for Monet as well. I imagine that 1073 will settle this quickly, as we'll most likely get Stussy's motivations within that chapter, but at the time of writing this that chapter hasn't come out yet, so I can hold out hope at least a few more days.
We learn that Stussy is actually a clone of former Rocks Pirate Miss Buckingham Stussy (easily the most surprising way Oda could have confirmed that Miss Buckin/Bakkin was in fact a Rocks Pirate as many had theorized), and that she was created by MADS, explaining why she stated she "[hadn't] been [to Egghead] in ages" in ch.1068. This would strongly suggest that she was in fact the one that Vegapunk called, as this establishes a very clear relationship between the two of them.
I acknowledge that Monet's chances for returning in this instance have now dramatically slimmed, but they have not been reduced to zero quite yet. Notably, we have not yet learned Stussy's motivations for her actions here, so there's any number of reasons why she could be betraying Lucci.
Being the clone of a Rocks Pirate, she could just as easily be associated with Blackbeard, who has taken up residence at the former headquarters of the Rocks Pirates. Perhaps she's trying to capture Vegapunk to bring his technology to Blackbeard rather than to leave it in the hands of the World Government?
Or maybe she's working for the Revolutionaries and is legitimately trying to save Vegapunk independently of Vegapunk asking her to do so? She already works undercover as one of the heads of the criminal underworld for CP0, it wouldn't be odd for her to be undercover as a member of CP0 for the Revolutionaries to undermine the World Government from within.
Also, the events of this chapter don't really seem to line up with the idea that she's explicitly Vegapunk's ally. Not only did Stussy do nothing to prevent the Seraphim from destroying the lab on Lucci's order, which could easily have gotten Vegapunk killed and thus causing her to fail in that particular mission...
...but Shaka still seems to consider Stussy a threat.
At first, Nami and Usopp assume that Zoro and Brook only have to fend off Lucci, Kaku and Stussy, claiming it to be a 2-on-3 match-up, but Shaka notes that "the odds are worse than that" as the Seraphim arrive. When the group changes their estimation to 2-on-7, Shaka doesn't correct them by saying that it's 3-on-6, and instead focuses on sending Edison and Lilith to overtake CP0's priority in the Seraphim's chain of command to turn the tide. If Stussy were on Vegapunk's side, Shaka would presumably consider her an asset that would offset Lucci's priority and at least bring the Seraphim to a halt with conflicting orders of the same priority. The fact that Shaka does not take Stussy's allegiance into consideration when assessing the situation suggests that it wasn't a factor he was aware of.
Of course, this could just be Oda not wanting to give the game away early, but I don't think he would have any of the Vegapunks completely ignore such an obvious piece on the board. Furthermore, Oda does have a tendency to use misdirects like this, giving us information that seems to fit one scenario only to reveal another entirely. For example, at the start of the chapter, we see a narration from Vegapunk chronicling the artificial creation of a human life.
By the end of the chapter, we learn that Stussy is the first successful clone created by MADS, so naturally, we would conclude that the "undeniable human being" that MADS has created and that people might disagree with the creation of is Stussy. However, as we move on from that narration, who do we see? Bonney, reverting to her child form and crying on the floor in the fetal position.
The imagery of a child crying while we learn of a controversial way for a human to be brought into the world? That really feels like the narration is meant to refer to her. Admittedly, I actually spent the first half of the chapter thinking this only to turn around once we learned that Stussy was a clone, but I think that it's actually a double-fake. We were supposed to think that it wasn't actually referring to Bonney, when in fact it was! I won't go into it since it's not my theory, but Artur's theory that Bonney is actually a clone of Big Mom could well back up this point.
If Stussy is meant to be a red herring for Bonney, I wouldn't be surprised if she's also meant to be a red herring for Monet as well. I imagine that 1073 will settle this quickly, as we'll most likely get Stussy's motivations within that chapter, but at the time of writing this that chapter hasn't come out yet, so I can hold out hope at least a few more days.
So now, possibly for the last time...
Let's Review
Monet was last seen speaking over a Den Den Mushi with Doflamingo, who was asking her to sacrifice herself for him, and now, exactly ten years later, Vegapunk is calling someone with a very similar request and received a similar response. The Den Den Mushi's features are obscured, thus obscuring the features of the person on the other end, which implies that the features would be recognizable, such as Monet's glasses or eyelashes.
Characters like Scopper Gaban, Kuma's consciousness, and even Stussy have been suggested as possibilities for who the voice belongs to, but neither Gaban nor Kuma would actually be sacrificing anything to make the Marines their enemies as they are already considered criminals, and Stussy doesn't seem to have the opportunity to be the one speaking to Vegapunk. The revelation that Stussy is a MADS-created clone and her betrayal of CP0 seem to imply that she is Vegapunk's ally, but the way that Shaka treats the situation and Stussy's inaction at the destruction of the lab both imply that this is a red herring and Stussy may have other motivations.
It was previously predicted that Monet would be on Vegapunk's island because of the Punk Hazard children, who were seen at the very beginning of this arc, almost as if to remind us of the events of Punk Hazard and to prime us for Monet's return. If Monet truly did follow the children out of a sense of duty or love towards them, then it would be natural for Monet to feel the same type of loyalty towards Vegapunk that prompted her to sacrifice herself for Doflamingo all those years ago (or months, in context).
Final Thoughts
I know I said last time that my theory days were likely over, but I never anticipated at the time that Monet's return would have such a clear tease; I expected her to just kind of show up out of the blue, either being the one to save the Straw Hats from a threat the way that Lilith did in 1061 or to just be waiting behind a door with no build up. Honestly the main prediction that I seem to have gotten right was that I'd be wrong about the specifics and that the final product would be much better executed than I could anticipate. I never would have imagined that one single panel would build this much suspense for me, and that's certainly not an effect that I'd ever have been able to write myself.
I will say that while I am wholeheartedly placing my bets on 1072, it's not as if I'm not hedging my bets at all. As some of you may have seen recently, I posted that I've made a bit of a wager with myself: I am giving Monet until the end of the year to return, regardless of how Egghead turns out. If Monet returns at any point this year, then from that month on, I will be creating monthly outfit designs based on what I think Monet would have worn in any given arc had she joined the Straw Hats from the very beginning until the final arc, possibly including special sets like certain color pages and the Film series along the way. If by 2024 Monet has not returned or the final chapter of 2023 doesn't give any indication that she might return, then I will officially accept Monet's death and publicly post a eulogy for her as a sort of funeral. Considering how close we are to the end of the series, I have trouble seeing how she could return and make a meaningful impact on the story past this year, as I imagine 2024 will see the Straw Hats entering one of the two major final confrontations against either the Marines or Blackbeard. I'll likely still have hope in my heart, but I won't live in denial. At that point the best we could hope for is to see Monet in a background scene, but the Straw Hats entering the final battle without her seems like it'd be pretty undeniable confirmation that she's not going to be a part of it.
Regardless of whether Monet will come back in 1072, by the end of 2023, or not at all, the Knock-Up Stream is coming, my friends. Will I make it to the White Sea, or will I come crashing back down to the Blue? It won't be much longer until we know for sure, but either way, I've made my choice and I'm going to sail until I find my answer.
See you all at Sky Island,
-Tokiro Oumaga
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