Video version: https://youtu.be/aBJ6_JR-aLc

Before we begin, I just wanted to tell you very quickly that my massive mega project, the sequel to The True History, the biggest One Piece theory I’ve ever made, is finally complete!! Yes, finally I am ready to publish all the episodes of my second season of my mega theory, which will work like this: this megatheory is split into three episodes, which will release weekly over the course of the following weeks on my YouTube channel, with the final video of course culminating into explaining what I believe the One Piece treasure itself to be.

However, if you’re feeling impatient, you can get access to all three episodes right now on my Patreon’s third tier (Supernova/$10 and higher), and get to know the truth of what I believe to be the One Piece treasure this very moment. If you can’t spare that though, then I hope you can still look forward to the release of these videos over the coming weeks. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I believe these are the best videos I’ve ever made, even better than my previous megatheory, so I hope you can enjoy them!!

Luffy’s New Attack

So as Luffy continues to battle with Kizaru, he unleashes a new attack which he calls “Gomu Gomu no Star Pistol”. This is an evident reference to the cartoon stars that form from this punch, but the reference goes deeper with the kanji reading being “White Star Gun”. The use of “white” here is consistent with the presence of the same kanji present in Luffy’s other Gear 5th attacks, such as “Dawn Whip” which had the kanji for “white whip”. Similarly, in this attack it reads as “white star”, which likely refers to the sun itself, the white star that brings the Dawn, and is the symbol of the Sun God Nika. This goes even deeper, as the kanji for “white” and “sun” are practically identical, with only a stroke of difference, so the white in these attacks is referencing the sun directly as well.

But there’s another layer to this, which is an incredibly neat detail that Oda has added. As we know, both Imu and Joyboy follow a lot of parallels, and one of them lays in their names. Both of Imu’s names, Nerona and Imu, are written in katakana. But the katakana characters that form the characters for Nerona for example, can be combined together to form the kanji for “god”, in reference to Imu’s godly status. Similarly, the katakana for “Imu” can be combined together to form the kanji for “buddha”, another deity. And the same applies for Nika as well, as taking both of the katakana for Nika spells out the kanji for either “white” or “sun”, of which of course Nika is emblematic. This of course is on top of the fact that “Nika” is a sound effect for laughter, but who knew that such secrets still lay in their names.

New Devil Fruit Users

On the other side of the battlefield, Bonney finds herself ambushed, attacked by Viceadmiral Bluegrass. Bluegrass is a specific type of plant, but also more broadly refers to a genre of country music. She has the Nori Nori no Mi, or Ride Ride Fruit, which seemingly lets her command any creature or thing that she rides. She is also attacked by another Vice Admiral who unleashes an attack called “Racco Hammer”. “Racco” is the Japanese name for the sea otter, and if you look closely at this panel, the Vice-admiral appears to have some sea otter features it did not have before, meaning that he likely has eaten a Zoan sea otter devil fruit. Bonney fights back using an attack called “N.D.E.”, which refers to Near Death Experience, as indicated by its kanji reading as well, a set of sensations the body goes through when it believes to be on the edge of death. In this case, it causes the targets to literally feel as if they had aged all the way to death, causing an overwhelming emotional shock.

Bonney vs Saturn

On the topic of Bonney, interestingly, she seems to infer on how Saturn has now become the new target of her rage, in an ironic twist of fate as she previously stopped Zoro from attacking a Celestial Dragon, only for now to be the one attacking one. As she mentioned to Kizaru, Bonney has stopped hating Vegapunk after learning the truth, but in turn, her rage has shifted to a new target, which now appears to be Saturn, or more likely the Gorosei in general, due to some reason regarding something she saw in Kuma’s past. Particularly, at the end of the chapter, these lines echo in her head:

It’s unclear who exactly is speaking each line, but at the very least the first one appears to be someone speaking directly to Vegapunk as they mention his name, and they seemingly follow by stating that they cannot allow Kuma to retain his will and sense of self. After that, it appears another person is replying, likely Vegapunk, as it would make sense he would reply by being distraught at Kuma being forced to abandon his will. Kuma could still be one of the two subjects though due to how third person works in Japanese, so it’s hard to say, particularly as Vegapunk said Kuma was the one who chose to abandon his will.

At least though, given the context, it would seem to imply that the first subject would be Saturn, having stated to be the one (or ones with the Gorosei as a whole) to have ordered the removal of Kuma’s consciousness, which seemingly angered Vegapunk who didn’t want to go through with it, though again it’s hard to say without the full context. But if that’s the case, why did the Government want Kuma to lose his will, and why did Vegapunk agree to go with it in the end? What exactly happened for Kuma to end up as he is right now?

Saturn’s Devil Fruit

Regardless there’s a far more pressing matter with this chapter aside from that, and that of course is what we’ve all been waiting for, as one of the Gorosei finally makes his move. From a demonic circle on the ground appears St. Jaygarcia Saturn, the Wargod of Scientific Defense, finally showcasing his devil fruit powers. On top of his head he has two large horns and two large bovine-like ears, just like the silhouette we saw him in during his attack on Sabo in Chapter 1085, though in that case he appeared to be in his fully transformed animal form.

In this case he is evidently in his hybrid form, as unlike that other time he still features some human traits, though some things like his hands have become a bit deformed, now sporting much more prominent claws. And of course, as expected, this is also Saturn’s awakened Zoan form, which may explain the massive beard and some other features like the devil fruit swirls on his legs, which seem to appear more commonly in awakened users such as Luffy, Lucci, or Yamato. The fact he is awakened is indicated by the cloud scarf he has around his neck, known as a “hagoromo”, which is a symbol of divinity from Japanese folklore that we’ve seen from other awakened users such as Luffy, Lucci, Kaku, and implicitly Yamato, which helps indicate when a Zoan user is awakened.

However, Saturn’s lower body instead looks like that of a spider, with a large abdomen and several legs sprouting from it. Some readers might be confused at this bizarre form, especially as we don’t get a name for it this chapter, but if you’re familiar with Japanese folklore, this creature should actually be very familiar to you. But if you’re not, allow me to get you up to speed!

This is an Ushi-oni, a yokai demon from shinto culture. It’s known as either Ushi-oni or Gyuuki, both being different kanji readings of the same word, which translates to “cow devil”. Depictions of this creature present it as a terrifying hybrid between a cow and a spider. It has the abdomen and legs of a spider, but the skin and head of a cow. Additionally, it is as big as an actual cow, making it a dangerous and vicious predator who feeds on humans.

Furthermore, as a mythical creature, the Ushi-oni possess supernatural abilities. They are able to spread poison and illnesses to their targets, but perhaps most fearsome of their abilities is their deadly gaze. Legend says that if you are unfortunate enough to make direct eye contact with an Ushi-oni, you will not be able to look away anymore, entrapped by their deadly stare. As your eyes remain locked, your soul slowly drains away until only a corpse is left.

In this case, this myth is translated in Saturn’s ability to be able to blow up the heads of those who lay eyes on him. It’s unclear what the conditions for this are, but I imagine it has less to do with strength and more with Saturn deciding who is allowed to gaze upon him, not wishing the common masses to know about his appearance, since it may be a classified secret only upper ranks are allowed to know. But at the same time I’d have to imagine this ability wouldn’t work of those with strong enough haki as it would be too broken to begin with, and there has to be a reason for him to not instantly kill Franky, Bonney, and the others.

This makes Saturn a fearsome opponent, as everything seems to point to him having this Ushi Ushi no Mi, Mythical Model: Ushi-Oni devil fruit, one that is awakened as well, which could give him supernatural abilities such as that of being able to spread illnesses or hurt others without even making direct contact.

There’s also the fact that Saturn appears to recognize Nika directly, and the fact that he states that he hasn’t touched the surface world in a very very long time. These all seem to point once again to the idea that Saturn has existed for a very long time, furthering the idea that Imu wasn’t the only one to have attained the perennial youth operation, but so did the other Gorosei alongside them. After all, even about 30 years ago they looked incredibly similar to the present, despite Oda shadowing their silhouettes to not give that detail away. And he may have even existed so long ago that he had previously encountered the Joyboy from the Void Century, recalling his form as he sees it in Luffy now.

But there is one detail regarding Saturn’s powers that suddenly shifts our perspective of the Gorosei in a whole other direction.

The Five Devils

Because the most important trait regarding Saturn’s devil fruit is the fact that it is an “ushi-oni”, or in other words, an “oni”, a “devil”. Even the way in which Saturn appears upon the battlefield is like that of a devil, generating a summoning circle in the shape of a star (or “planet” in Japanese), much like the summoning circle of baphomet, with five spikes as well as the number five written out, clearly standing for “Gorosei”, the “Five Elder Planets”. And this could be a coincidence but hell, even the name “Saturn” is spelled in Japanese as “Sataan”, which literally sounds just like “Satan”, the Devil itself. Saturn is summoned like a devil through this circle, emanating large haki sparks and flames, and incarnates the form of a devil through his fruit as well. So what does this all mean?

Well, this connects with the fact that the Gorosei are in fact all… Devils. We know that currently the Celestial Dragons are considered the “gods” of this world. But before that, during the Void Century, they were instead referred by the terms of “Devils”. Conversely, those associating with the ancient kingdom in modern times are called the “Devils”, like the Devils of Ohara or the Devil’s Child Robin, but during the Void Century, they were known as the Gods of the God Country. These roles were reversed after the Void Century as history was rewritten, but the truth still stands: those at the top of the world are in truth not gods, but Devils posing as gods.

It’s as Sabo himself said when he first witnessed the true forms of the Gorosei and Imu: “Who would’ve thought hell was located at the top of the world.” What Sabo laid eyes on in that very moment was hell itself, a bunch of devils surrounding that empty throne, the residence of the devils who overtook the garden of eden atop the Red Line and usurped the country of God to build hell in its place.

This means that each of the Gorosei are devils, both in nature and in their abilities as well, and with Saturn being confirmed to literally have a devil fruit that transforms him into an actual devil, it would make sense for the other Gorosei to have fruits based on devil creatures as well, which would explain why they all seem to be Zoan in some form or another, and all likely awakened too since we saw that Nasujuurou and Mars were both awakened users as indicated by their homuragumo scarves. Since devils are mostly mythical creatures, it would make sense if all five Gorosei have awakened mythical type devil fruits, befitting for Imu’s guard to possess the strongest form of fruits possible.

There’s a lot of different guesses we could make now with that information. St. Marcus Mars’s transformation into a rooster-like creature could suggest a devil fruit based on the demonic Abraxas, or the demon yokai Furaribi or Basan, all which look like roosters. Similarly, Juu Peter’s figure looks quite reminiscent of an Umi Bozu, the colossal demonic monsters that rise from the ocean. So on and so forth, there’s too many guesses we can make to narrow down anything specific, but it’s a very high chance that the other Gorosei all have fruits based on other demonic yokai or other devils and demons from other folklores around the world. Let me know if you have any ideas for what you think those could be!

IMU – The Devil

But then… what does that make of the one standing above them? The King of all Devils? Well, the answer is the same that I’ve been repeating for months over and over again… everything seems to point to the direction that Imu is the one who stands at the highest seat of Hell… the Devil himself.

I’ve said many times before that I believe Imu is the legendary figure of Umi, the Sea Devil that originally created the devil fruits. And that Imu’s very powers are that of the Sea Devil himself, a cartoonish devil much like that of old cartoons that parallels the goofy Joyboy. So it makes sense that his guard of the Five Elder Planets were all blessed with powerful mythical powers that turn them into devils of many kinds, and even seem to possess the power to be summoned like actual devils. This latter power to be summoned through the circle seems fairly unrelated to the powers an Ushi-Oni would have, so I wonder if that was granted to them by someone like Imu or something along those lines.

But just as Sabo said it, the top of the world is Hell itself, and now we have a better idea of how the supposed “Gods” ruling the top of the world are in fact Devils, and above them all is the origin of Devil Fruits, the Sea Devil himself, who rules the world as its God after usurping its throne, shielded by his five strongest Devils, the Five Elder Planets, all which rotate around this figure, the one that stands at the pinnacle of Hell itself!