Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaGEo8c7hKU

FIRE POWER

There’s a lot to talk about that final twist, but let’s go in order: on the Sunny, we find out that Caribou did indeed get on the Sunny with permission from Luffy, as Luffy had agreed to help him get away from Wano. However, Zoro is willing to just drop him off here, despite this being a Government Island, which might result in Caribou’s capture. Caribou swears he won’t forget this, which is a really dangerous thing as it actually sets him up as an enemy of the Straw Hats. He himself isn’t exactly a threat, but his knowledge of Pluton and Poseidon makes him a very big danger in the future.

The Straw Hats are taken up to the Labo through an escalator, which they are fascinated by, since while they are commonplace in our world, they don’t really exist in the world of One Piece. The closest thing was the Travelator we saw at Mary Geoise in Chapter 904, but that was man-powered, or rather slave-powered, compared to this electricity-powered escalator.

Franky wonders how such electricity could be achieved in such a versatile way, and Vegapunk explains that this is achieved through using fire as fuel, but all of this requires a lot of natural resources to keep the fire going. So Vegapunk explains that they want to use an eternally burning flame, which is most likely referring to the Lunarians and the fire on their backs. Vegapunk claims that with this they could maybe even create an artificial sun, which is a really big important thing, but we’ll get back to that later on.

SERAPHIM JINBE

However, the group comes across a mysterious figure, being the Jinbe Seraphim Pacifista, which seems to be classified as Seraphim 04. As they mention, he’s a child version of Jinbe with dark skin, white hair, black wings, and a fire on his back. He is wearing a karate gi on him, which was the same we saw on him when Oda drew him as a kid in the SBS. There’s also the fact that that, as Franky mentions, despite being a kid he’s as big as adult Jinbe, which shouldn’t be the case since just like we saw last chapter, no doubt intentionally by Oda, kid Jinbe was shown to be much smaller when he was a kid, compared to his current three meter height. However, the Seraphim was purposefully built to be bigger, which is something we already know since in Chapter 1059 Blackbeard already mentioned that the Mihawk Seraphim was very big as well. This means that Vegapunk purposefully augmented the size of the Seraphim, which likely ties into the research of augmenting the bodies of children that Vegapunk had been researching into for many years, and that Caesar also tried to replicate as we saw in Punk Hazard, though in the latter’s case to a failed extent.

Furthermore, we can also see the writing “PX” on Jinbe’s chest, but what’s more interesting is the bizarre bracelet he seems to be carrying on his left hand, or perhaps even some clear skin, with what seems to be water and bubbles within it. Could this be related in some form with his current powers? A close up of his eyes also shows that he has star-shaped eyes just like Hancock as well. This probably explain why we couldn’t see Mihawk Seraphim’s star eyes since we need a proper close up to see them, just like Jinbe Seraphim in this chapter.

Anyway, this Seraphim, just like the other Pacifistas, has a replica of Kizaru’s Pika Pika no Mi light beam, which he fires by thrusting his palm forward, though the pose he adopts with it is just like that he would use with Fishman Karate as a nice nod.

Nami attempts to fight Jinbe, but mentions she finds it hard due to him looking like a kid, since she is someone who has such a soft spot for kids as we’ve continuously seen across the series, such as when she attacked Ulti for hitting Tama just recently. The Seraphim attacks Nami in a fit of rage, with her showing a very traumatized look on her face. This has particular significance since after all Jinbe was the one who allowed Arlong to go rampant in the East Blue, but Nami ultimately decided to forgive Jinbe and accept him as a fellow nakama, which makes a moment like this where she has to fight back against a child Jinbe all the harder on her. We can also see how the flame on Jinbe’s back turns off for a moment, as just like King explained that allows a Lunaria to be more aggressive, despite exposing them more.

However, the real surprising thing is that this Jinbe can suddenly dive into the ground, which not only does Usopp recognize as devil fruit powers, but of course Franky knows very well who they belonged to. You’ve likely realized yourself, these are the powers of Senor Pink’s Sui Sui no Mi, the Swim Swim Fruit that allows you to swim through the ground. This means that Vegapunk attained Senor Pink’s lineage factor, likely after he was imprisoned in Dressrosa, and through it he managed to clone his devil fruit, just like he did with Kaido, to give it to the Jinbe Seraphim. However, there’s also another valid explanation, since after all, the Government wasn’t aware of Vegapunk successfully cloning fruits. It’s possible that rather than cloning the fruit, Vegapunk was able to replicate an aspect of it, just in the same way that he was able to replicate Kizaru’s light beams into all the Pacifista, so perhaps he’s been able to crack the technology to replicate Senor Pink’s powers as well. This could perhaps explain the door from earlier in the chapter, as Vegapunk has been able to turn solid matter like an iron door into a liquid-like substance, so perhaps Vegapunk has been able to apply the fruit’s powers to the surfaces of the Labo in general rather than just on the Pacifista itself, though it’s hard to say. Or maybe Senor Pink is dead and the fruit has now been given to the Seraphim. Oda did mention in an SBS that while Caesar was able to make artificial devil fruits through SMILEs, Vegapunk has been able to go even beyond, which is likely what we’re seeing in action right here.

Regardless, just as Franky is about to hit him with his Radical Beam, someone calls out to the “S-Shark” to stop and dodge, with “S” likely standing for Seraphim, this being his codename. This person is surprised since, understandably enough, the Radical Beam is technology Franky developed from Vegapunk’s plans, so it’s not something anyone should have. And by the way, in this control room we can spot a den den mushi on top of the screens for communications.

THE 6 VEGAPUNKS

This person turns out to actually be Dr. Vegapunk 03, “Idea” Edison. They appear to be rather small, and perhaps not fully human either, wearing a strange helmet and a jetpack as well which they use to move around given their small stature. On their jacket they also bear a kanji, being the kanji for “idea”, the classification Edison falls under. Edison also seems to speak with a heavy Japanese Kansai dialect, native to central Japan, much like Atlas did as well if you remember my previous analysis.

However, suddenly, Edison has an idea that pops up in their head, so they head to jolt it down right away. This is obviously fitting, since Edison is the “Idea” part of Vegapunk’s mind, so it’s only natural that they’d be the one to continuously come up with ideas. This is depicted through a lightbulb popping up, which is a fitting reference since real-life Edison was known to have helped develop the invention of the lightbulb, even if he wasn’t the one who first actually created the lightbulb. This is also a really fitting detail because Oda mentioned in a recent interview how he misses the cartoon aspect of comics that has been lost with more modern edgy manga, which is part of what influenced his design for Gear 5th, and cited as an example a character getting an idea and a lightbulb appearing over their head, a detail which he shows here.

As Edison rushes to jolt down ideas, they mention how they could use a hand from a cat, which as explained in a previous analysis, is a Japanese expression that is equivalent to “could use a hand” in English, which is the reason why the 6 Vegapunk Satellites are also referred to as the “cats” in the Japanese version, though in this case an actual cat follows Edison.

Vegapunk 04 “Wisdom” Pythagoras takes over for him, taking care of the report. Pythagoras appears to actually be just a small little ball with little hands and legs, which again brings into question on if it’s really human at all, instead using the larger body as a mechanical suit, which also bears a jetpack, to perform other tasks. This actually makes me wonder if the likes of Edison and Pythagoras, unlike someone like Lilith, are straight up just genderless due to the fact of being partially robotic creatures, though it’s also possible half the Punks are male and the other half female for an equal ratio.

Eitherway, on Pythagoras’s suit, beyond the writing “Punk 04” we can also see the kanji for “Wisdom”, which refers to their respective category. This makes sense as Pythagoras is the one in charge of writing down and keeping track of all data, which results in the accumulation of a lot of wisdom, just like the wise philosopher that the Pythagoras of our time was. Pythagoras explains how the Seraphim are able to learn and develop as they gain battle experience and grow up, sort of like Pokémon I suppose. This is cited as being caused by the bloodline elements/lineage factor, the DNA of this world, storing information in terms of experience, which would explain why the Jinbe Seraphim also fights using Fishman Karate like the original. Pythagoras also makes mention of how the Seraphim are still young, likely because they are recent inventions, and also makes mention of GB, or as the phonetic reading says “Green Blood”, which is an interesting term. Is this suggesting that Lunaria also have green blood on top of all the other traits, or is this a Seraphim-specific thing?

Regardless, Pythagoras has to go to the toilet, while Edison instead is hungry and starving, so they instead ask help to the final of the Punks, being Vegapunk 06 “Desire” York. As her name suggests, she is the one in charge of the desires, basically taking care of the basic biological necessities of the punks. This includes eating, going to the bathroom, and sleeping, which is described as the “KDN” cycle, which in Japanese stands for “Kuudasuneeru”, or “Consume-Dump-Nap”. This is because the other Punks are too busy with things and don’t want to stop working, so they literally made York as a way to be able to skip all their basic necessities. This is particularly weird though, as after York has eaten and gone to the bathroom, Edison and Pythagoras exclaim how they feel refreshed, and Atlas also mentions how her belly feels empty. This indicates that despite being separate bodies, all the Vegapunks are in fact physically connected, and York eating, dumping, and sleeping is shared with the Vegapunks so they don’t have to do these things, which brings into question just how their bodies are linked.

To complete the group, Vegapunk 01 “Good” Shaka finally appears in full, sporting some fantastic drip with an outfit with the writing “Caution” and a better look at his Daft Punk-like helmet. Being the “good” side of Vegapunk, Shaka is more rational and kind to the Straw Hats. He is weary against them so that they don’t pull anything funny, by using the dom shoes they gave them to magnetically stick them to the ground, but he seems intent to show them something, as after all he is allied with Dragon.

THE ANCIENT FUTURE KINGDOM

This thing in particular is a revelation that completely flips on its head what we understood of the future. Shaka mentions that though this may look like the future, this is in fact all… the past. How 900 years in the past, right before the start of the Void Century, there once existed a highly advanced Kingdom that, just like Egghead, had technology way ahead of our time.

This kingdom is no doubt the same Immense Kingdom that Professor Clover mentioned during Robin’s flashback, the same kingdom found at the center of all the mysteries in the story, including Joy Boy and the very existence of the One Piece, since after all Clover did mention that they boasted incredibly advanced power. The Kingdom he described looks practically identical to the depictions of Laugh Tale we’ve seen, and the Road Poneglyphs all point to this final island, which only makes it clearer that it likely is where the Kingdom was originally located, or at least the home base of this massively technologically advanced kingdom. This is a massive deal… or would be if it wasn’t for the fact that we basically already knew this for years.

Look, as much as I’d love to take credit for calling this because I’ve been saying it for years, you can trace it back all the way to 2016 during my analysis of the Zou arc or literally, I actually mentioned this in my video from last week, but this is something that has basically been community headcanon for a long while, because once you start thinking about it, it’s something Oda already spelled out to us very clearly since the Water 7 Saga.

THE ANCIENT FUTURE MOON COUNTRY

We know this mostly through one thing, something that is very much connected to Dr. Vegapunk… the Moon. Just like we saw during Enel’s cover story, the people of the Moon possessed very advanced technology, and the key detail is that this was prior to the Void Century, as we know the Shandians established themselves on Jaya prior to the events of the Void Century, specifically during the year 402 of the Kaienreki Calendar as Robin once cited. Since the Shandians are descendants of the people of the Moon, it means this advanced Moon civilization existed prior to the events of the Void Century over 900 years ago.

As we found out in Enel’s cover story, the Moon had been colonized by winged hominids to establish a civilization there, but despite their technology and might, they were forced to leave for the planet below again once they realized that there weren’t enough resources to sustain a civilization on the Moon. There they split into different tribes across different islands, but it can be assumed that their technology still persisted. This does bring into question on if they were the ones who pioneered this technology or if they simply took it from the Great Kingdom that already had it at the time. This doesn’t really matter much in the great scheme of things, but it does bring into question the so-called “God Country” where the Lunaria lived in. Not only do the Lunaria, winged folk, have a name that references the Moon, or “Luna” in Latin, but they also possess massive eternal flames on their back. And, remember what Vegapunk said earlier in the chapter? That if they could make their own sun… that could power this entire civilization.

Was that perhaps why… Joy Boy was called the “Sun God”, because its sun served not only the purpose of being a symbol of union, connection, and equality between all people and races, as has already been established across the series in arcs like Fishman Island, but also might’ve quite literally been an actual sun that helped power all the technology of this future kingdom, leading it to prosperity.

But such ideals of equality and prosperity no doubt terrified the human kingdoms who had been in power until that time. Which is why they banded together to form an alliance and waged war against the Kingdom and its allies, to wipe them out from history. This was quite literal, as all information about them was wiped from records, hence why indestructible stones like the poneglyphs were created as a countermeasure, since the now-formed World Government hoped that the ideals of the Great Kingdom would be forgotten, and as such that their will would not be inherited. But this also extended to all of their technology, wiping it away and causing humanity to regress to a more primitive state, because quite simply, that made it easier for the Government to control them. Without the weapons or the technology to give power to the people, the Government could keep its grasp on the world. That is until, eventually, the greed of technology took them over once again in the future, as Vegapunk was able to unearth many of these discoveries, and the Government became too paranoid about the possibility of losing their power that they became tempted to monopolize such future power against the people. This is actually something we’ve been told in the story with something like the ancient weapons: originally, the Government wanted to completely hide the existence of the ancient weapons; however, recently, they decided that they should seize the ancient weapons for themselves, something they are very much doing the same with Vegapunk as well, though now that he might have learned too much that might be why they want to eliminate him.

This would also explain the existence of Pluton and why so many characters considered it a creation way beyond their time, because it was such an advanced warship that it had the power to wipe out an entire island in one blast… a technology that Vegapunk might’ve perhaps found a way to implement again in the Lulussia Kingdom… could what we saw happening there be Vegapunk’s attempt at recreating the island-wiping ship Pluton? I mean after all, it was never said that Pluton had to sail on water, so what if it actually was a flying ship? Though that would bring into question of how he’d built it without the blueprints, so perhaps this is something more like Uranus.

Speaking of which, Enel’s cover story raised yet another question that I feel most fans have largely ignored for years but pretty much set up this plot twist ever since the early 2000s: why is it that Dr. Vegapunk at Karakuri Island possessed the blueprints of the automata despite them being invented originally on the moon as seen later in the cover story? The only answer to this is that Vegapunk found ancient blueprints of the automata and recreated that technology in his time… which is literally what Shaka is mentioning in this chapter, how all this technology is the type of stuff that has been lost to the past, but is now found in the present again. Could this be why all the Vegapunks have names that relate to the moon, like I explained in my previous analysis?

THE GIANT ROBOT

In fact, we see this adoption of technology in the form of the gigantic robot from the last panel. The resemblance to the Franky shogun is frankly uncanny, but there’s actually a very real reason for that: as you might recall Franky did not invent the Franky shogun, rather he based it off of blueprints that Vegapunk had in Karakuri Island, which Vegapunk also later used to create the Vega Force Robot. But given what Shaka says, it seems that much like the automata, Vegapunk didn’t invent the idea of a giant robot, but rather took it from the past to recreate it in the present. It’s also quite interesting how this robot bears a viking-styled helmet, with horns similar to those of ancient giants like the Onigashima skull or Oars, the latter being quite fitting since it seems to be somewhere about its size, or at least close to it. The jaw mask is also quite similar to that of Jack, though that could be a coincidence. More interesting though is the massive katana that is lodged into this robot, likely sustained during battle as it fell and became defeated. The image of such a large katana once again brings back the thought of something like Onigashima, at a time where perhaps giant robots like these fought in battles alongside or against ancient giants. What I’m implying here is that this is essential the Franky Shogun of ancient times, being used by the people of Joy Boy’s kingdom to fight in the grand conflict of the Void Century.

If you’ve seen Film RED, you might also recognize these robots as they already appeared in the film, said to have been left in Elegia in ancient times to protect a certain music sheet from being stolen by anyone.

THE GENESIS OF DEVIL FRUITS

Really though, as I’ve been saying for years, the implications of such an idea are very massive. Because this… pretty much may explain the genesis of all devil fruits. And, it makes sense, Vegapunk has been taking all this technology from the past and part of it is finding out how to recreate the powers of devil fruits, just like we are seeing in action this very chapter through the Seraphim Pacifista.

I talked about this just last week in a video about devil fruits, but according to legend, as Shanks detailed in Chapter 19, the Devil Fruits are supposedly the incarnations of the Devil King of the Sea, with each of the fruits bearing a devil that gives supernatural powers. This is just how the myth goes however, but the truth is that, just as it’s been established since Punk Hazard, Devil Fruits are in reality just something that modifies the genetic code of living beings, the so-called bloodline elements or lineage factors, which results in such paranormal powers. So for example, the genetic code of the Mera Mera no Mi might teach the body how to turn into fire and generate it. Or the genetic code of an animal in a Zoan fruit might teach the body how to morph into that animal by quite literally changing its lineage factor on the fly. And this isn’t any news, as Oda confirmed in an SBS that’s how artificial Zoan fruits worked.

To us it might sound like magic, but to a future civilization it may very well be something as simple and normal as the technology of turning on a lighter. When humanity doesn’t comprehend science, it boils it down to witchcraft.

So essentially, what I’m saying is that the devil fruits contain genetic code that, when ingested, modifies your own genetic code to freely modify your bloodline elements. If you’ve seen My Hero Academia, think of it like Deku inheriting All Might’s powers through eating the DNA in his hair. This also explains why when someone eats a devil fruit user whole, just like Big Mom did with Mother Carmel, this results in them inheriting those powers, as the genetic code is passed on once again just like when eating a devil fruit. Really, the only thing that needs explaining here is just how exactly do devil fruits reincarnate into other fruits once a user dies, as well as why Zoan fruits are said to have a will of their own, which makes me wonder if they managed to make the fruits themselves come to life in some way, but that’s something that we’re bound to find out very soon.

Oda did tell us after all that once we finally met Dr. Vegapunk we would find out about the origin of devil fruits, and that moment may very well be right now! Next week, or in just a few more, we may finally find out the truth about how this ancient kingdom came to create the devil fruits!