So we have a pretty organized group of factions for the endgame thus far that we know of:
- 4 Emperors (SHP, BBP, RHP, and CG)
- Revolutionaries
- Marines
- World Government
Each with their own leaders, commanders, etc,. We can make decently safe guesses where the above will be featured and how, but that's not actually a comprehensive list (or at least a complete one).
The ones that I currently find peculiar are:
- The Underworld
- The Silver Medalist Escapees
- The (former) Rocks Pirates
I've been thinking about how or where these groups appear, if at all, during the fight for One Piece and its climax. And I think there are potentially, 3 reasonable alliances the groups form in regards to the fight for One Piece
I. Underworld
The Underworld is a consistently referenced group dating back to PH and while typically associated to Doflamingo and Kaido, exists beyond this. Firstly, we have the Emperors, in which only 2 have been focused on (while the 3rd was recently revealed to be the source funding of MADS):
With Stussy becoming more prominent in the story (and funny enough, ALSO tied to Rocks), I expect the plotline post Egghead to dig into the rest of these emperors. However, another notable connection to me is Cross Guild. We have this scene depicting that their Marine Hunting goals have been backed by other Shady Organizations, leading me to think they connect directly to someone in the above group:
Then theres the fact that Buggy himself now had declared the group to be in the running for PK, which is leading me to think that not only will they likely recruit Moria and Doflamingo, but CG will be the actual face of the Underworld moving into the endgame
II. The Silver Medalist Escapees
A more subtle reference but one thats been around since pre-TS. You first have the fact that Brandnew tells Sengoku that more prisoners escaped post Marineford, with Sengoku having a very serious reaction to it via the WG's complacency:
You then have what Jean Ango said in Dressrosa, to even Luffy questioning it:
To me Oda, is not one to casually drop whole groups of teased characters like this, but I've been wondering where they could in fact pop up. And what better way to have silver medalists/escapees be tied to the Burned Man/4th Poneglyph holder? I'd assume that this man has a crew, and while there is little proof, I can imagine the idea behind them is to let Silver Medalists attempt to take One Piece again under this man? We obviously do not know if this person is powerful, but it seems like they are being hyped to be by Laffite:
III. (Former) Rocks Pirates
This one I guess is more subjective, but ideally relies on the fact that Oda has avoided God Valley's event and has yet to show multiple Rocks Pirate characters in the manga canon up to this date. Similar to the underworld, Oda still seems to reference members of the crew out of relevancy:
It gets even funkier when you realize the OG Stussy clearly was tied to MADS and Vegapunk, resulting in what seems to be the imperfect Clone of Whitebeard:
It is starting to make me believe that the Rocks plot is absolutely not over after BM and Kaido (regardless of their return), and either may be central to some VP/Cloning Plotline, or the actual return of Rocks himself.
Funny enough, I think post-Egghead, Stussy will be central in tying together all 3 of these groups together. She is one of the Underworld Emperors, a clone of a Rocks Pirate, and may be privy to the wherabouts of the Burned Man if the Underworld somehow knows of his location.
IV Movie Villains?
Random thought, but I do find it interesting that since strong world, 3 of 5 villains have ties to these groups:
-
Shiki is a Former Rocks Pirate, and continuously mentioned and referenced in the manga, as recent as Wano
-
Tesoro is a rival of Doflamingo in the Underworld
Bullet is a Level 6 escapee and funny enough, has a "burned scar" on his body.
Now I'm not saying Oda is trying to canonize movie villains, but this is just a fascinating thought, as there seem to be some level of acknowledement to create villains with these backgrounds. Even Z technically has ties to a shichibukai who cut off is arm (and is a fruit user), from an offshoot military group. I do wonder if there is some connection to Sword or at least served as an inspiration.
Uta, like Shiki but to a lesser extent, is fascinating, because she has direct ties to a major character in the canon manga (Shanks) and has even been shown with a silhouette. Again, nothing major, but just funny Oda did this.
So what do you think? Will these 3 (?) factions still have roles in the story?
Tldr: I think CG has ties to the Underworld, Vegapunk to Rocks and the Silver Medallists to the Burned man. On top of this, Stussy is the key to tying them all together.
- 4 Emperors (SHP, BBP, RHP, and CG)
- Revolutionaries
- Marines
- World Government
Each with their own leaders, commanders, etc,. We can make decently safe guesses where the above will be featured and how, but that's not actually a comprehensive list (or at least a complete one).
The ones that I currently find peculiar are:
- The Underworld
- The Silver Medalist Escapees
- The (former) Rocks Pirates
I've been thinking about how or where these groups appear, if at all, during the fight for One Piece and its climax. And I think there are potentially, 3 reasonable alliances the groups form in regards to the fight for One Piece
I. Underworld
The Underworld is a consistently referenced group dating back to PH and while typically associated to Doflamingo and Kaido, exists beyond this. Firstly, we have the Emperors, in which only 2 have been focused on (while the 3rd was recently revealed to be the source funding of MADS):
With Stussy becoming more prominent in the story (and funny enough, ALSO tied to Rocks), I expect the plotline post Egghead to dig into the rest of these emperors. However, another notable connection to me is Cross Guild. We have this scene depicting that their Marine Hunting goals have been backed by other Shady Organizations, leading me to think they connect directly to someone in the above group:
Then theres the fact that Buggy himself now had declared the group to be in the running for PK, which is leading me to think that not only will they likely recruit Moria and Doflamingo, but CG will be the actual face of the Underworld moving into the endgame
II. The Silver Medalist Escapees
A more subtle reference but one thats been around since pre-TS. You first have the fact that Brandnew tells Sengoku that more prisoners escaped post Marineford, with Sengoku having a very serious reaction to it via the WG's complacency:
You then have what Jean Ango said in Dressrosa, to even Luffy questioning it:
To me Oda, is not one to casually drop whole groups of teased characters like this, but I've been wondering where they could in fact pop up. And what better way to have silver medalists/escapees be tied to the Burned Man/4th Poneglyph holder? I'd assume that this man has a crew, and while there is little proof, I can imagine the idea behind them is to let Silver Medalists attempt to take One Piece again under this man? We obviously do not know if this person is powerful, but it seems like they are being hyped to be by Laffite:
III. (Former) Rocks Pirates
This one I guess is more subjective, but ideally relies on the fact that Oda has avoided God Valley's event and has yet to show multiple Rocks Pirate characters in the manga canon up to this date. Similar to the underworld, Oda still seems to reference members of the crew out of relevancy:
It gets even funkier when you realize the OG Stussy clearly was tied to MADS and Vegapunk, resulting in what seems to be the imperfect Clone of Whitebeard:
It is starting to make me believe that the Rocks plot is absolutely not over after BM and Kaido (regardless of their return), and either may be central to some VP/Cloning Plotline, or the actual return of Rocks himself.
Funny enough, I think post-Egghead, Stussy will be central in tying together all 3 of these groups together. She is one of the Underworld Emperors, a clone of a Rocks Pirate, and may be privy to the wherabouts of the Burned Man if the Underworld somehow knows of his location.
IV Movie Villains?
Random thought, but I do find it interesting that since strong world, 3 of 5 villains have ties to these groups:
-
Shiki is a Former Rocks Pirate, and continuously mentioned and referenced in the manga, as recent as Wano
-
Tesoro is a rival of Doflamingo in the Underworld
Bullet is a Level 6 escapee and funny enough, has a "burned scar" on his body.
Now I'm not saying Oda is trying to canonize movie villains, but this is just a fascinating thought, as there seem to be some level of acknowledement to create villains with these backgrounds. Even Z technically has ties to a shichibukai who cut off is arm (and is a fruit user), from an offshoot military group. I do wonder if there is some connection to Sword or at least served as an inspiration.
Uta, like Shiki but to a lesser extent, is fascinating, because she has direct ties to a major character in the canon manga (Shanks) and has even been shown with a silhouette. Again, nothing major, but just funny Oda did this.
So what do you think? Will these 3 (?) factions still have roles in the story?
Tldr: I think CG has ties to the Underworld, Vegapunk to Rocks and the Silver Medallists to the Burned man. On top of this, Stussy is the key to tying them all together.
