I'll start: in Loguetown, Buggy just happens to show up at the exact moment Luffy is about to be executed at the same scaffold Roger died on. At the time it feels like a gag. But Buggy was part of Roger's crew. He watched his captain die there. That scene hit completely differently on reread — Buggy wasn't just being Buggy, he was reliving something. Oda is insane. Drop yours below.
Questions & Mysteries What's a small detail from an early arc that you only understood years later?
- Thread starter chandrest
- Start date
Most of these are retcons, Oda most likely did not have these planned right from the start...but it still shows Oda's attention to detail at times.
From Chapter 1! Shanks staring down the Lord of the Coast.
(Chapter 1)
...And then YEARS later, we find out that was probably Shanks using Conqueror's Haki. Plus, the fact that it was his arm with his Abyss Mark that got eaten.
Then during Baratie, with Mihawk talking about "Hunting Rabbits".
(Chapter 51)
...And then YEARS later, we learn about the Celestial Dragons "hunting rabbits" in their Games.
(Chapter 1096)
And probably the most infamous example. Luffy doing what we would find out MUCH later is the Nika Dance in Skypiea.
(Chapter 253)
More recently, when Doflamingo mentioned the National Treasure of Mariejois.
(Chapter 761)
...And then YEARS later, after putting the pieces together, that National Treasure is probably Imu himself. And Doflamingo wanted to put his mind inside Imu's body with the Op-Op Fruit's Personality Transplant ability. Imu wouldn't even appear until chapter 906.
Plus, there's the way Oda sneaks in little "jokes" into bounty numbers and chapter numbers, using Goroawase number puns. I didn't even realize he was doing that until around Wano.
reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/jnp7z6/odas_little_jokes_on_the_bounty_numbers/
And there's probably other stuff that hasn't been revealed yet that I feel like could eventually be revealed to be foreshadowing. There could be a lot of stuff like this, scattered all over the manga.
From Chapter 1! Shanks staring down the Lord of the Coast.
(Chapter 1)
...And then YEARS later, we find out that was probably Shanks using Conqueror's Haki. Plus, the fact that it was his arm with his Abyss Mark that got eaten.
Then during Baratie, with Mihawk talking about "Hunting Rabbits".
(Chapter 51)
...And then YEARS later, we learn about the Celestial Dragons "hunting rabbits" in their Games.
(Chapter 1096)
And probably the most infamous example. Luffy doing what we would find out MUCH later is the Nika Dance in Skypiea.
(Chapter 253)
More recently, when Doflamingo mentioned the National Treasure of Mariejois.
(Chapter 761)
...And then YEARS later, after putting the pieces together, that National Treasure is probably Imu himself. And Doflamingo wanted to put his mind inside Imu's body with the Op-Op Fruit's Personality Transplant ability. Imu wouldn't even appear until chapter 906.
Plus, there's the way Oda sneaks in little "jokes" into bounty numbers and chapter numbers, using Goroawase number puns. I didn't even realize he was doing that until around Wano.
reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/jnp7z6/odas_little_jokes_on_the_bounty_numbers/
And there's probably other stuff that hasn't been revealed yet that I feel like could eventually be revealed to be foreshadowing. There could be a lot of stuff like this, scattered all over the manga.
Interesting. There are frankly a LOT of moment that I had to rewatch or reread to fully understand. I was a child when I started so the entire deepness of the story never really reached me even tho I still felt the "importance" of the situations and emotions.
I'd say the biggest thing that I didn't understand (and there are still something that I did not yet understand I'm sure) are the real deep and hidden desires and characterization of the different strawhats. Not the obvious, but the under layers and the layers under that.
For example, something that never occured to me up until a decade ago is how Sanji's story in Baratie is as much influenced by Luffy asby Zoro himself. And it's very interesting because while Sanji is always bickering with Zoro, he actually really admires him. Zoro is one of the reason why he pushed himself to search for the All blue.
When you see Sanji screaming at Zoro when he gets defeated by Mihawk, Sanji is actually really pissed at himself and the fact that Zoro is showing him exactly what he wished he would be at that moment. Zoro is not only a strawhat, but he is a moral compass for Sanji. Zoro is the reminder that he must never put down his own dream and desire as a sacrifice. It's not a coincidence that the ONE moment where Sanji actually deviates from this path in the story, is when Zoro is not with him to remind him of that.
Highly unlikely for Shanks. Everything points to Haki being thought of very early in the story.
The rest is... hm.. I don't fully agree on the hints. I would not be surprised if one day Oda ends up explaining that the dance around the fire is not connected to Nika. What is on the other hand is the entire lore around skypiea, something Oda probably had in my back then.
It's also important to understand that while forshadowing like this might seem incredible on first sight because of the weight of the revelations, they are actually the low end of the real skill of Oda as a storyteller.
These foreshadowing are actually pretty basic and do not require a lot of craft. Just a good planning. And trust me when I say that I'm 100% sure that Oda is a BIG architect (people who outline their stories) even if he is also an amazing gardenner (people who improvise and go with the flow). I think I will make a little thread to explain why narratively.
I'd say the biggest thing that I didn't understand (and there are still something that I did not yet understand I'm sure) are the real deep and hidden desires and characterization of the different strawhats. Not the obvious, but the under layers and the layers under that.
For example, something that never occured to me up until a decade ago is how Sanji's story in Baratie is as much influenced by Luffy asby Zoro himself. And it's very interesting because while Sanji is always bickering with Zoro, he actually really admires him. Zoro is one of the reason why he pushed himself to search for the All blue.
When you see Sanji screaming at Zoro when he gets defeated by Mihawk, Sanji is actually really pissed at himself and the fact that Zoro is showing him exactly what he wished he would be at that moment. Zoro is not only a strawhat, but he is a moral compass for Sanji. Zoro is the reminder that he must never put down his own dream and desire as a sacrifice. It's not a coincidence that the ONE moment where Sanji actually deviates from this path in the story, is when Zoro is not with him to remind him of that.
Highly unlikely for Shanks. Everything points to Haki being thought of very early in the story.
The rest is... hm.. I don't fully agree on the hints. I would not be surprised if one day Oda ends up explaining that the dance around the fire is not connected to Nika. What is on the other hand is the entire lore around skypiea, something Oda probably had in my back then.
It's also important to understand that while forshadowing like this might seem incredible on first sight because of the weight of the revelations, they are actually the low end of the real skill of Oda as a storyteller.
These foreshadowing are actually pretty basic and do not require a lot of craft. Just a good planning. And trust me when I say that I'm 100% sure that Oda is a BIG architect (people who outline their stories) even if he is also an amazing gardenner (people who improvise and go with the flow). I think I will make a little thread to explain why narratively.