That’s the title of the chapter Jinbei is invited to join the crew. With the reveal of “Sun God” Nika, the cheerful boy who wants to free all the worlds slaves and laughter to their lips- Joy Boy, much- this chapter has some added significance.
It starts with Shirahoshi talking with the Sea Kings, with Neptune saying the power to destroy the world has awakened
Jinbei and Luffy, joining forces, fishman and human, fishman and D. And this is a representation of “the true road to the sun.”
If you are on the “road to” something, then you’re on a destination to an end point. Luffy and Jinbei together are travelling to the sun. What was the sun? Well, we discover this chapter it’s this
Note the exclamation marks. Jinbei does know what Who’s Who is talking about here. Presumably, I’d guess, from Fisher Tiger. Who’s Who, being a racist, makes the assumption that all “slimy” fishmen will know this story because they are a slave race. Not true, as we know, but Tiger was a slave fishman who could have learned rhis story, and used it as inspiration for his Mariejois raid
Doing what Nika did, naming his pirate crew after them. Now, Jinbei did not know Tiger was a slave, but I presume that Tiger did tell him parts of this Nika tale. Sadly, Tiger could not be the one to go on the true road to the sun, as he was- understandably- too filled with hate.
A person like that can’t bring joy, the way Luffy and Jinbei can.
And Luffy and Jinbei are on this road together. To go back to the first few images from Jinbei’s invitation chapter, there’s more interesting stuff. Shirahoshi, and her destructive power of Posiedon, will be involved. But there’s also a “promised time”, the Sea Kings have been ”waiting” for. they need Noah to be fixed by some people by then- I’m guessing the giants, based on the sheer size of Noah. Expect Jinbei to one day helm Noah, packed full of freed slaves and fishman, to the surface and the sun.
There’s all the things we’ve come to be more aware from in Wano, of a “promised time” when the world will change. This also adds weight to Crocus, Rayleigh and Whitebeard’s words (to name a few) from throughout the series.
Basically, if you’re upset about Luff being a promised hero, sorry to tell you, but this is no new development. We’ve known for a very long time that Roger is ”waiting” for someone, that he started the Age of Pirates on purpose, that the people of Ohara and the Roger Pirates were “too hasty”, that one day a man Roger was “waiting for” would arise and shoulder “centuries of history.” All words that bring to mind a dream if the future, an idea that people have been waiting for for a long, long time, for someone to come along and save them, like the “Sun God” did. That someone is Luffy, on his road to the Sun,
As an aside for some other things that popped into my head
Why is the sun so important? It’s a representation of freedom, a bright new start. What is the Dawn? It’s the rising of the Sun and a new day, the passing of night and the fear of the past. We’ve seen a lot of talk from the Scabbards of the dawn coming to Wano, this is just one more step in the road to the sun.
To the fishmen, it’s the surface, to see the true sun, to be part of the world and not hidden away at the sea floor. The dream of Otohime and the fishmen in the past who created Noah.
For slaves, freedom, away from the drudgery of a slaves existence. How did Tiger remove the mark of slavery? By covering it with a sun.
This is one of the main goals that have been passed down to Luffy, “since ancient times”. Nika’s dream of rhe Sun. A true expression of freedom, Luffy’s main wish, for all the people of the world who are oppressed.
Also, that thing that Luffy and Roger said thag we don’t know about, definitely to make everyone in the world laugh. Childish, calls to mind Joy Boy and Nika, fits like a glove.
