I've had this weird feeling that Elbaf is entirely related to:
-Other sky islands
-The Moon
-Enel
- Uranus
and will be the last, full fledged adventure arc the manga will have (but not before Vegapunk :p)
See, the giant tree (Yggdrasil?) that is on the center of the island is impossibly huge, i mean, look at it:
And you could possibly see other "branches or roots" of the tree here:
In the background. If anyone knows a little on Norse mythology....
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Yggdrasil is the world tree, and connects the 9 realms together. In one piece, these would be physical locations.
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Midgard would be just the World OP resides on. Maybe the tree on Elbaf is only a branch and the tree itself sprouts from the middle of the ocean.
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Jotunheim would be Elbaf, strayed off one of the branches of the tree above.
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Niflheim is possibly the origin of the Fish-people, origin of all water/cold, etc,
Muspelheim (Fire Giants, AKA Oni Giants in OP's world or Oars/Onigashima), and
Vanaheim could be the other surrounding branches/islands above, seen in the 2nd image. Part of me thinks Vanaheim may actually be the Tennryuubito or the rivaling Kingdom from where the original 20 kings resided, as the Vanir. Vanir gods always fought the Aesir (Asgardian) gods whom I think are the D. Clan.
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Svartlfheim (Nidavellir) could be the original Dwarven kingdom under the tree.
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Hel could be some unspeakable location below Svartlfheim. Possibly Pluton's location (God of the Underworld)
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Alfheim could be a sky island or multiple sky islands. The "Elves" in this meaning would be the Sky People.
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Asgard/Valhalla could be the Moon or something related to the Moon. Enel being there could explain stuff too. A lot of people think the D. Clan were moon people originally. Possibly Uranus's location (God of the Sky).
Not sure where Long Arm/Leg/Snakeneck or Mink would fit into this, but its clear Oda has had a pre-defined selection of species as far back as Sabaody.
Loki being the Prince of Elbaf gives credence to Oda using Norse Mythology there and there have been things like Jorgumandr being the Red Line as theories that I've found to like.
I also think THIS is why Roger ended up in Skypiea with Oden after Whitebeard. High West is in Elbaf, and another name for the Giant Tree. They took the tree's branches all the way to Skypiea/Jaya and Island hopped. Luffy and crew are SPECIFICALLY heading east on Grand Line towards Lodestar. High West would indicate the reverse direction.
Honestly day dreaming of the possibilities.
Edit: Here is this interesting take on "High West" I found now and again circulating on the internet lol. East is technically were Elbaf is (this "picture would be North looking South), West where Skypiea is. High West could be this "beanstalk" or some path that leads them back to Skypiea, flowing West:
Edit 2: EVEN MORE interesting is the idea that there are MULTIPLE Sky Island species and the fact that King/Tengu not only have the biggest wings out of any of them, but the fact that King has been called "an extinct" species and the fact that he has Dark wings, leads me to believe King and Tengu are the original representations of the Dark and Light Elves of Alfheim. The Skypieans/Birkans etc are simply descendants of these people.
We are going to possibly get hints of this and Elbaf this arc, I can feel it. Onigashima/Oars may have been the Giant species from Muspelheim instead. In fact, their horns actually remind me of Surtur.
This is ALSO why I think Big Mom still has a role to play. She's a lover of all species and this arc could explain a lot of things about One Piece's geography and species makeup. AND we'll also eventually find out why Vegapunk tried to giantify people into Oni-Giants.