Been wondering about a couple of things lately so I am going to throw out several ideas. Maybe it helps someone connect the dots.
I wonder if the entire final saga is foreshadowed through Thriller Bark... Before we get to that, a small detour.
The awakening of Mythical Zoans has been foreshadowed all the way back in Fishman Island through Hody's and Hyozou's "Awakening".
Let's summarize what happened to them. They stuffed themselves with energy steroids and due to overdose, their bodies changed.
Their hair turned white, they grew more powerful and in the end, they aged rapidly. Two things to keep in mind, white hair and aging part.
The only two mythical Zoans that we know that have awakened have the same traits, Luffy and Saturn.
White Hair, grew more powerful and after using Awakening, Luffy ages just as Hody and Hyozou aged but luckily for him, it's not permanent.
I assume that Saturn doesnt suffer from the same side-effect because he has Eternal Youth that he obtained through Immortality Operation.
These traits also confirm a couple of things, Marco and Kaido are not Awakened as they dont share the White Hair and the aging side-effect.
It is also questionable if those side-effects happen to first-time manifestations as well, considering that Zoro's hair aint white in Asura.
Or maybe it will eventually become white one he Awakens the Demon God into a more superior/complete form or something...
I digress, back to the Thriller Bark foreshadowing the final saga suspicions.
Who are the key figures of the arc?
The ex-Rocks executives, a swordsman with a black blade, a super Giant, a princess with irresistible powers, master of shadows, a swordsman who dueled the swordsman with the black blade and a tyrant with a different race who the ghost princess fears. Could we guess who all those figures are going to parallel in the final saga?
Let's give it a try.
Last 10 years have been all about the executives that were once part of
Rocks Pirates, namely Kaido and Big Mom. And we are still not done with them as neither Rocks nor God Valley incident are fully revealed. Either way, it parallels Moriah's Zombies that were also executives of Rocks Pirates like captain John and others...
A
swordsman with a black blade is an easy parallel, we dont have to think hard about it. Of course, it refers to the strongest swordsman in the world, Dracule Mihawk.
Zombie Oars, the
super giant could parallel whoever reigns supreme in Elbaf that is under never-ending war... Quite interesting that the Emperor that is affiliated with Elbaf didnt end that conflict, namely Shanks... Speaking of Shanks, he parallels Brook, the
swordsman who dueled the swordsman with a Black Blade...
Master of Shadows obviously parallels Blackbeard. The man who sucks in all shadows/the man who sucks in everything into Black Hole... Moriah's technique Doppelganger, allows him to switch places with his shadow at will... Meanwhile, many suspect that Blackbeard isnt just one person, as Zoro and Luffy confirmed back in Jaya... He can switch with another, just like Moriah can switch with Doppelganger. How comes, what is so special about Blackbeard's body that he can eat multiple Devil Fruits? Well, since everything is revolving around Rocks Pirates and Blackbeard named his ship Saber of Xebec, I assume that inside Blackbeard is also part of Rocks D Xebec's soul!
Two souls, or three, allow him to eat more devil fruits, one for each soul! How is Rocks' soul inside Blackbeard? How exactly it ended up in his is a mystery but we could put 2 and 2 together... Who can manipulate souls and saw Rocks last? That's right, our favourite walking diabetes, Big Mom! The soul manipulation user was on God Valley when Rocks was crushed and has already shown to be able to extract souls from others and even split them creating hommies... Whether she extracted Xebec's soul entirely or split it like its own when making hommies, doesnt really matter. What matters is that Rocks' soul somehow ended up inside Blackbeard.
That's why he is repeating everything that Rocks himself did. Naming his ship after Rocks' sword, ruling Beehive just like Xebec did and wants to be crowned King, just like Xebec wanted to become King of the World... History repeats itself! How he got the 3rd soul and whose it is, is beyond me. Enough about that parallel.
Moving on the the
princess with irresistible powers obviously paralleling Imu. Perona was a commander of wild Zombies(animal Zombies).
And who is Imu commanding? Animals too(mythical Zoans). Also wears a crown on her head just like Perona and probably has irresistible powers just like Perona's negativity powers were a problem except for one guy, the Embodiment of Negativity and cowardice.
I have theorized before, based on Enel's line that Fear is a God, that Imu is the embodiment of Fear and her powers are irresistible. I have also recently developed a theory that Usopp would achieve his dream of becoming the brave man of the sea against Imu and that only his manifestation of power will be able to stand up to Imu's embodiment of Fear just like only his negativity could stand up to Perona's powers. I am not saying that Usopp will beat Imu but without him, Imu wont be beaten.
Why is Imu a god of fear? Aside from Enel's line, Dory and Brogy also mentioned that their Hakoku can destroy everything except for blood-soaked serpent... I assumed this referred to the Red Line itself but it may refer to Imu's mythical Zoan, the serpent that parallels Norse god of Fear that is also a Serpent. Wouldnt be surprised if Imu is inspired by him considering that Norse mythology will be very relevant in the final saga.
All of this brings us to the question that is in the title -
Who does Fear(Imu) fear?
How is it possible that the embodiment of Fear actually fears someone? The ruler of the world that can crush any opposition fears someone despite seeing everyone else as peasants not worth breathing the same air with? Well, it could actually be the case... There is evidence, since recently, that the world isnt in Imu's iron grip as we might think...
>If we could use its power freely, then we can bring this
ancient battle to its conclusion!!
The Gorosei who are quite old and have eternal youth refer to that battle as Ancient so it definitely doesnt refer to the current squabble among pirates...
If we assume it is the pirates who prevented Imu from taking over the world, that is only a recent issue but something has prevented Imu from taking over the world in the last 8 centuries!
If they obtained an Ancient Weapon that they could use freely, they could finally end it all. But what is it they want to end? Or rather who?
It is safe to say that this person is unknown. However, considering Imu's location, if we assume that someone is out there who she fears, she would have chosen the location that is the furthest away from that individual. Fisman Island!!!
Celestial Dragons having no authority over there was foreshadowed by Myosgard's case.
The prophecy of destruction could be related to this line >If we could use its power freely, we could end this Ancient Battle...
Imu might indeed obtain what he needs to use Uranus freely and will use it to attack that person who is probably located under the FMI.
But why didnt that person, whom Imu feared all this time, appear before?
The answer could lie in Law's Devil Fruit. The detaching ability could he been used to dismantle that person and render him immobile until he is put back together.
This has been foreshadowed through Kinemon, who has been dismantled and slowly put back together. Even one part of his body has been under the water, in the lake that a shark almost ate... Another foreshadowing of this could be through Vergo. The Demon Bamboo was dismantled into pieces...
Considering that the Red Line is built at that very spot where Fishman Island is, could it be possibly used in order to separate the two pieces of that person's body?
One part of the body in the Paradise, the other in the New World...
The destruction of Red Line at the spot where Fishman Island is, would also remove the obstacle separating those two body parts and would allow it to be put back together...
And that is where the parallel with Kuma the Tyrant comes in... The Strawhats just defeated the Imu and are looking at the rays of sun and suddenly, an even bigger foe appears and takes everything back to square one... (A different race climbing the Red Line to wreak havoc has been foreshadowed by more characters than one, namely Fisher Tiger, Kuma and the Ancient Robot...)
Who could that guy be? Assuming he survived centuries underwater, paralleling
Tyrant's special race, he could be a Fishman from ancient times, Davy Jones, Vander Decken the First, whoever... Could be foreshadowed through the current Vander Decken wanting (mermaid) princess (Imu) for himself and throwing all kinds of weapons at her so she had to hide in an iron tower(on top of the Red Line)...
In the first chapter of Thriller Bark arc, "sea god" is mentioned several times and Imu's name is the opposite of Umi(the sea)...
This could be the answer to my question, the one Imu fears is the sea god, that's why she is on the other side of the world compared to the sea, on a piece of land sky high, above the clouds and sky islands...
Too much of a guess thread to tag everyone...
