I could honestly see it going either way? It kind of depends on how connected Lodestar ends up being to Laugh Tale itself.
I think most people are assuming Lodestar and Laugh Tale are completely different locations on the ocean. And that's completely fair, because we HAVE been led to believe that. If they are different locations, then I think we're almost guaranteed to get some sort of small civilization on Lodestar. Oda LOVES designing new characters. And Lodestar would probably be one of his last chances to design a cast of wacky new characters. So, I could see us getting a smaller village on Lodestar. Maybe it's a village full of D-Clan members. Kind of similar to what we saw on God Valley. God Valley's sister island, more or less.
But, on the other hand, the more I think about it...the more I wonder if the Log Pose and the Poneglyphs have basically been leading us to the same place this whole time. Just with greater and greater detail.
I could see Lodestar ending up being the "gateway" that you need to go through in order to get to Laugh Tale. And Laugh Tale is probably underground.
We started out with one Log Pose that could only point in 1 direction, once the Strawhats got to the Grand Line. Then, when they got to the New World, they had to upgrade a Log Pose that had 3 needles instead of just one.
(Chapter 653)
Later on, we learned about the 4 Road Poneglyphs that will lead you to Laugh Tale.
(Chapter 818)
1, 3, 4 (we kinda skipped "2")...the Strawhats have slowly been getting "upgraded" ways to find the way to their destination. 1 directions lets you know what general direction to start heading. 3 directions let you triangulate your journey so you can be more precise. And 4 directions allow you to add "depth" to the equation. How high or how low you have to go in order to go to find Laugh Tale.
WAY back in Zou, Nami was worried about no longer following the Log Poses.
(Chapter 820)
But, Inuarashi told them that the Poneglyphs would show them the way better than the Log Poses would.
(Chapter 820, again)
So, I think it's actually pretty likely that both the Log Poses and the Road Poneglyphs are leading you to the same general area. It's just that with the Poneglyphs you also add in a factor of "depth". Nami was NEVER taking us in the wrong direction, she just needed upgraded equipment.
I've talked a little bit about it before, you really only need 3 locations in order to triangulate something. So, that fourth Road Poneglyph must be for adding in another factor. And I think it's "depth" that shows you how deep you have to go.
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...earth-imu-lulusias-elbaph.80780/#post-6659980
So, if that's the case, it's possible that there is NO civilization on Lodestar. Because Lodestar is actually directly ABOVE where Laugh Tale is! We could be FAR closer to the end of the journey than we think.
When someone reaches Lodestar, it's possible they find some ancient ruins that tells them about the Road Poneglyphs and not much else. The Log Poses tell them they're at the end of the journey, but there's nothing there. But, the TRUE treasure is basically right under their feet! If Lodestar IS the gateway to Laugh Tale in some form, I could see Lodestar just being a deserted island, with maybe some Ancient Civilization ruins. Maybe with ONE person living there, possibly someone immortal like Imu seems to be.
You might be asking "Well, if the Log Poses can point UP to a Sky Island...then why couldn't they just point DOWN to where Laugh Tale is, if it's just underground?". And...I really don't have a solid answer for that! In theory, it SHOULD work like that. The Log Poses SHOULD just be able to point down. Although, we know it only takes half a day for the New World Log Pose to set it's new destination, compared to the Paradise Log Poses which can be more random, even taking multiple days or months or years in some cases. So, supposedly, the "magnetic signal" is probably getting stronger and stronger the closer you get to Lodestar. So, once you reach Lodestar...it's possible that the Log Pose just starts going crazy from all the magnetic signals all around you. Making the Log Pose completely worthless on Lodestar itself. So, you'd need the coordinates found on the 4 Road Poneglyphs, instead, in order to find your way. But, that's a lot of speculation.
As for why Lodestar is important...well, that's a much longer idea that I've already discussed. But, basically, I think Lodestar is actually the center of the Ancient Kingdom.
The Ancient Kingdom...is actually EVERY ISLAND we've been visiting on the Grand Line. Just split up and dragged across the World by Continent Pullers like Oars. Every island on the Grand Line may actually have originally been one giant super-continent in the past, like Pangaea. Which would kind of explain why there are magnetic fields connecting each of these islands together in the first place. The magnetic fields are the "rope" that was used to drag these islands all across the world. The Grand Line is a man-made construct of the Ancient Kingdom.
The different islands of the Grand Line are connected to each other, because they all used to be one, larger landmass. They're pointing to the nearest "jigsaw puzzle piece" that used to be it's "neighbor". Think of it as similar to Vivre Cards, how they're pulled towards each other by some mysterious force, which might also be related to all this. With Lodestar probably being the "center" of that super-continent, and probably the former capitol of the Ancient Kingdom.
Something...may have happened to cause that entire land to become magnetized. Maybe some super-weapon went off and changed the magnetic field of the entire landmass. Or maybe it is just simply the result of Ancient technology still being active this whole time. Something like Vegapunk's "free energy" that's all around us, in effect. The "energy that's all around us" MAY be the same thing as the Log Pose's magnetic fields. For one reason or another.
(Chapter 1068)
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/forum/threads/the-haki-knot-paradox.77843/#post-6544094
But, it would make some sense for Lodestar to be a gateway to Laugh Tale and the Underworld. If we assume Laugh Tale is where the Forbidden Sun/Mother Flame used to be. According to the Chapter 1138 Mural, it seems like there used to be some power source underground in this world, thus explaining why there's flames painted around the bottom of the Mural. So, it kind of makes sense if there used to be a big, important town in a place with a giant hole with access to the center of the planet. Just like how most civilizations start their towns close to a water source like a river or a lake, a ADVANCED civilization would have THEIR biggest cities next to where their power source would come from. If the Ancient Kingdom used to get their power from a underground source, they would form their capitol around where they dug their main hole TO that power source.
But, one way or another, I'm guessing that we'll be in for some backstory, once we reach Lodestar. We may even get the Void Century flashback there! At the very least, we'll probably get something like the Chapter 1138 Mural there. And...probably some sort of artwork of a "dragon", somewhere on Lodestar. But, that ties into ANOTHER theory, so I'll just leave it at that, for now.
So, this went a little long. To sum up, I'm leaning towards there not being a civilization on Lodestar. If only because that'd give the place a more mysterious and reverent vibe to it. But, it's possible that there are people living there, it's hard to say. And Lodestar COULD turn out to be the ancient capitol of the Ancient Kingdom, the center of a Pangaea-like former landmass, and possibly the gateway to get to Laugh Tale! Lodestar could be a direct gateway to the Underworld! So...yeah, Lodestar could be fairly important, after all. I mean...it's either REALLY important, or we completely skip it. I'm not sure if there's going to be much of a middle ground, here.
