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

Cover Story

For starters, there’s a new cover story that is beginning, one that opens up with returning to Onigashima. It appears that Momo used his powers to drop the island into the depths of Wano’s waters, in order to get it out of sight, landing next to the old Wano Country. This would infer that the cover story will focus on someone who is found within Onigashima at the moment and who might make their escape from the island.

Both Drake and Hawkins supposedly died within the island. Hawkins mentioned his unlikelyhood to survive as he dropped dead, while Drake also didn’t reappear during any of the celebrations, but more tellingly Prince Grus mentioned even weeks after that it was impossible to get in contact with Drake, leading him to believe the worst had happened, meaning he might really be dead.

There are however other important characters that would’ve potentially been left inside the island. We have all the Tobi Roppo, including Ulti, Page One, Sasaki, and Blackmaria, but as devil fruit users, if they were dumped into the water like this, then they might as very well be dead as well. There is a single exception however, which would be… Jack. King and Queen were knocked out of the island, which caused them to get seized by Ryokugyu, but Jack was defeated within Onigashima, and so if he was left here, then he would’ve survived because he is after all a fishman, a fact that was confirmed in his vivre card as being a giant grouper fishman, a fish that is usually of massive proportions, hence why Jack is so incredibly tall. As a devil fruit user, he cannot move in water, but he is still able to breathe, which is how he was able to survive the attack by Zunesha when he was pulled out by his crew who went searching for him underwater. So potentially he could escape from here, but it would require someone to rescue him.

Alternatively, this could just be telling us what happened to Onigashima and then we switch to mainland to focus on a cover story with Yamato, Momonosuke, or any of the other Scabbards or characters, so it’s hard to say.

Vice-Admirals

While we’re at it, I’d also like to point out some of the details from last week’s chapter, as I didn’t get a chance to talk about it last week. For starters we got the names for all the remaining Vice Admirals, aside from Vice-Admiral Doll, and Vice-Admiral Red King, whose name is derived from the Ultraman monster of the same name, and the names we already got of Doberman and Bluegrass, we also got Vice Admirals Hound, Guillotine, Tosa, Urban, and Pomsky.

Guillotine is the guy who appeared to have an actual blade above his head, likely his “guillotine”, which he appeared to use in battle. Similarly, Urban also was able to use his hat as an actual cannon when fighting. In this case, you can even spot the hat emitting smoke from it as it has just fired a shot. Pomsky meanwhile, if you remember, appears to have a sea otter Zoan devil fruit. But there is a more telling pattern among some of these Vice-Admirals, being that many of them are named after dog breeds. Not all of them, but a decent majority.

There’s Doberman, Hound, Pomsky, and Tosa, which are all dog breeds. Tosa in particular refers to a Japanese breed of fighting dog known for its powerful bite, hence his attack “Tosa Bite”, where he does a shigan technique with all ten of his fingers, a technique that was actually first used by Jabra all the way back in Enies Lobby.

There’s also Vice Admiral Dalmatian, who is not present at Egghead, and if you want to argue, Garp wearing the dog mask as well. In fact, it’s possible that “Doll”‘s name may have been a mistranslation all along, as we’ve never gotten her official romanization from Oda. Rather, it’s likely that her name may be “Dhole”, referring to the dog breed of the same name. This would explain the dog collar that she wears at all times, which fits the naming pattern.

This naming pattern may seem odd at first, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. These Vice Admirals are literally the lapdogs of the World Government, so it makes sense that there would be a constant pattern of dog names among them.

Franky, Bonney, Kuma, and Atlas are however saved by Dorry and Brogy, who however don’t recognize any of them as Straw Hats. The joke here of course is that they can’t recognize Franky because his bounty poster features the Sunny, not his face. Brogy then reacts by giving a wide grin, which is a direct callback to his first appearance over 20 years ago in an almost identical panel, with the sound effect “Nika” above him, as “nika” is the Japanese sound effect for smiling or laughing.

They also bring up that “Vegapunk” is the man that scholar mentioned, with that “scholar” likely being Saul, who must’ve become a scholar at Elbaf after everything that happened at Ohara, as if you recall, Vegapunk paid Saul a visit to peruse the books of the library of Ohara. It’s quite the contrast when you recall the country bumpkin personality Saul had at first. Dhole also brings up Saul with Bluegrass later in this chapter, which indicates that she is a lot older than she first appears, as Saul left the Marines 22 years ago, meaning that Dhole is at least around her later 30s or 40s.

Some of the giants also bring up a sky island, which brings up the possibility of what many have speculated that Elbaf has a sky island of its own, like the whole story of Jack and the beanstalk and all.

Vegapunk’s death

Back to Luffy’s side however, Saturn has transformed in what appears to be his beast form of his ushioni mythical power, where he now appears a lot more beastly and is able to melt things with a poison on his legs. This is up to par with the ushioni myth, as it is said the ushioni is able to conjure posions, which makes Saturn quite dangerous. The dead appearance in his eyes may also have been inspired by the famous painting of Saturn by Francisco de Goya, which bears a similar depiction of soulless eyes of the god Saturn.

Luffy stops both Saturn and Kizaru in an incredible panel where he turns giant, which will be quite fitting as he might meet Dorry and Brogy in this state, seeing each other eye to eye. At the same time, this is a very thematically meaningful moment, as we see the contrast between Sabaody Luffy, who had to run away unable to protect any of his crewmates, versus Egghead Luffy, now able to stop both a Marine Admiral and an Elder Planet all on his own.

Sanji attempts to get Vegapunk out of the scene, but Kizaru uses his Ama no Murakumo to pierce Vegapunk and kill him for good. At this point it seems that Vegapunk is truly dead, as we can see in his lab a heartrate monitor going “beep beep” until it flatlines, indicating that his heart has stopped beating entirely. Vegapunk is even smiling, which is a pattern in One Piece that has been shown in those whose dreams have been inherited and will come to pass through the actions of others. In other words, not truly dying because you are being remembered. This pattern is often missassociated with the D. clan, but plenty of non-D. clan members have smiled during their deaths, so it ties more with a general theme of dying happy because you know that your will will live on through others.

This does bring into question though if Vegapunk is truly dead or if he was able to upload his consciousness to the cloud into Punk Records in some way or another. Eitherway, Lilith, Edison, and Atlas should still be able to live, seeing as how Shaka and Pythagoras’s deaths didn’t really affect their status, with Edison doing just fine the next chapter, and there’s also the fact that York should still be stuck in the Labophase (alongside Kaku as well if you recall), which may pose a threat if the Government can seize her, since she is the only other one able to create the Motherflame energy cells that power the ancient weapon Imu possesses, what we believe to be Uranus by process of elimination.

However, Vegapunk’s death triggers a pre-recorded message, which is sent all over the world. This message is achieved through a new technology of long-range den den mushi which are able to broadcast all over the world. These were introduced during Film RED, where Uta had found on the shores of Elegia a shipwrecked vessel of the SSG, Vegapunk’s Special Science Group, which housed some prototypes of these long-range den den mushi that essentially allow to livestream footage all over the world. Uta used those to host her concerts, but that was Oda’s way of introducing this technology that Vegapunk would now use to divulge the secrets of the world. This likely is the world-changing event of the Egghead Incident that has been teased for so long.

What are these secrets though? Well, the possibilities are infinite, but at the very least I’d have to imagine it has to be something capable of damaging the World Government, especially with the desperation the Gorosei appear to be having. As hype as it would be for us One Piece readers, things like the name of the Ancient Kingdom, what I believe to be the “Kingdom of D.”, the “Kingdom of Dawn”, or more details about Nika, wouldn’t really rile up the people of the world that much. I mean yeah sure, there was this ancient superhero, or this ancient kingdom that got beaten, but would that really put much of an effect?

The National Treasure of Mary Geoise

I mean think about it, what is the biggest secret the World Government is hiding, what is the most dangerous thing they are not allowed to divulge at all costs? Quite simply, that is the identity of the National Treasure of Mary Geoise: King Imu. This is a detail I’ve talked about, but it’s something that has been lost in translation, where Doflamingo talked about a certain “national treasure” of Mary Geoise. But in the Japanese version, he referred to that treasure as “the one who is really actually ruling the world” in secret. This was mistranslated because at the time of the release of this chapter, there was no context about Imu’s existence, but now with hindsight, it’s very easy to realize that Doflamingo was talking about a living national treasure, the greatest secret of the World Government, which is what he was able to do to blackmail CP0, as they were willing to do anything to keep Doflamingo shut.

Doflamingo even mentioned to Law his plan of using the Ope Ope no Mi’s personality switching operation to become the national treasure himself, in other words Doflamingo wanted to swap bodies with Imu to become King of the World, but that obviously didn’t come to pass. But regardless, this living “national treasure”, called as such because he’s literally been living for the past 800 years, is the biggest secret in the Government’s history and something that, as Doflamingo himself has said, could shake the world to its core if it came to be known publicly.

As such, if Vegapunk divulged this secret right now, it would completely crumble the image of the World Government. If Sabo killing Cobra led 12 nations out of 170 in the World Government to revolt, imagine what would happen if everyone found out they were being controlled by this ancient entity. No wonder that the Gorosei are so desperate. This brings into question how Vegapunk knew, as Sabo and Dragon wouldn’t have been able to tell him in time, but it’s possible that Ohara may have discovered something about how Imu became King 800 years ago and came to the conclusion he’s still around, and Vegapunk read about that in the library, at least it’s something Oda can likely justify in many ways. But again, it could be something else entirely, and at the very least, I’d have to imagine that Oda would have to pair it with some new lore or something to impact readers as well.

Eitherway, our answers won’t be so immediate, as Vegapunk decides to take ten minutes in order to let others prepare for the livestream, so I suppose we shall take our real life couple weeks as well to prepare ourselves for it.

Cameos across the world

We then cut to the Holyland Mary Geoise, where it appears to be nighttime. This actually kinda kills a longstanding theory that it’s always day in Mary Geoise just like Enies Lobby, as we had always seen the Holy Land during the day, leading some to think that it may have been through a similar phenomenon as the God Country existed here before. But I suppose that’s not the case, as it does seem to appear to be nighttime, which makes sense since Mary Geoise is found in a different timezone from Egghead, as after all the Grand Line runs horizontally like the equator, in a timezone where it is still night, though the Gorosei are definitely wide awake.

We then cut to Dress Rosa, where it is currently day, where we see a flamenco dancer dancing among the streets. In the royal palace, we see Rebecca training with Kyros, growing stronger. With her are Leo, who gullibly believed the news, a transformed Kabu, and head of the guards Tank Lepanto. We then get to Foosha Village, where they mention not having a visual den den mushi. Interestingly, Woop Slap wonders why a visual is needed beyond the audio, which makes me wonder if Vegapunk may showcase something visually. It’s also interesting to hear him mention that they don’t have the money for a visual den den mushi, which may help illustrate some of the financial troubles that Foosha Village may suffer being part of the segregated Goa Kingdom.

At Water 7, where it’s still night, Iceburg is being waken up by his secretary, whose name is revealed to be Alice. It’s written as “Alice”, but it’s pronounced “Aleeche”, as it is an Italian name. As was shown during cover stories, she’s the new secretary that applied after Kalifa, who is a genius prodigy capable of managing things perfectly. Sitting on her head we also see Iceburg’s pet mouse Tyrannosaurus, donning his suit as well.

At the WEN, we can also see Morgans, Vivi, and Wapol reacting, with the latter looking completely uninterested in the situation. Next to him is also Yaneno Chinode, a character that was named in an SBS as the one who gave Vivi her clothes as she has a crush for her, which we see here again fawning over Vivi.

Plenty of other locations are also showcased, with fittingly themed towns such as a cold location in the North Blue, and a tropical location in the South Blue, typical of those oceans. In Kamabakka, on a specially decorated screen Ivankov is shocked by his cut head. Meanwhile Dragon recalls Shaka’s words that Vegapunk might lose his life, so he might have cottoned in to what is happening, though once again this kills any chances of Dragon being at Egghead unless he can get there almost instantly.

Back at Egghead, Luffy fights back against Kizaru and Saturn by squashing them into dough, in a move he calls Dawn Cymbals, referring to how he squishes them like cymbals. The kanji reading instead reads as “directional force”, given the force that he is applying to squash them. He then tosses them around like pizzas and throws them around, with Kizaru crashing onto a battleship. Kizaru then appears to be tearing up, likely after having to have killed Vegapunk.

Saturn however comes back like a spinning boomerang in quite the cartoonish fashion. This actually lines up with Imu’s powers being quite cartoonish as well, which suggests the idea that Imu and the Gorosei by extent, are a bit of a parallel to Nika. While Nika is cartoonish and goofy, they are cartoonish but sinister, like the heroes and villains of a cartoon.

The Secret of the Gorosei

However, all tables are turned as suddenly Saturn summons the other Gorosei by his side, with all five elder planets deploying upon Egghead, with the chapter’s final editor comment mentioning “the planets are aligning”. We already saw that Saturn is able to use a satanic circle to spawn upon the island from his ship, but he evidently needed to make the journey himself and get there presently before doing so. However, the Gorosei are able to summon each other at any time within their vicinity, and so in this emergency all five are deploying upon Egghead. This means we are likely to see all of their devil fruit forms that were first teased in Chapter 1085, likely all to be themed after demonic creatures of different mythologies, so get your final bets on what they’ll be right now.

What’s most shocking about this however is the connection that the Gorosei have together. Even with the demonic powers of an ushioni, being able to summon each other like this would go against what we know of devil fruits. Obviously Imu, who many of us believe to be the source and origin of devil fruits, the devil himself, had a part in these powers, but something still doesn’t add up. Because we can see that the Gorosei are also able to communicate telepahtically. This isn’t through den den mushi, as Saturn isn’t holding any and the speech bubble is that for inner thoughts, not the one used for transmissions. Meaning that they literally share a common consciousness and inner thoughts… maybe they could even be sharing the same brain.

Does this technology sound familiar? Because it’s very similar to what Vegapunk does. Though he only applies this once a day, with Punk Records the brains of the Punks all synchronize and they share their memories and thoughts, allowing them all to share one brain, even if their own personalities and experiences differ from each other, still making them their own slightly distinct persons. But if Vegpaunk got most of his scientific discoveries from the Void Century, then someone must’ve used this technology in the past as well. This could very much be the same case with the Five Elder Planets, five different aspects who despite having slightly different personalities, all share the same interests and alignments, which is how they are all able to work together so efficiently. This even potentially recontextualizes why they always just seem to be talking amongst themselves, expositioning things that they should already know, because it’s all just one big internal monologue, which also explains how they are able to follow up on each others’ sentences so seamlessly all the time, as it’s all essentially the same line of thought.

After all, Vegapunk’s clones are called the “Satellites”, and the Five Elder Planets are by definition “satellites” that orbit around a celestial body as well, in this geocentric model being the earth, symbolized by the mother of nature the sea Umi. And so what would be the “Stella”, the central body from which these satellites originate? It would be none other than King Imu himself. And thinking about it, it makes sense. Characters like Saturn are still their own character with their own personality and own spitefulness, but it helps to build Imu as a villain if everything that Kuma and other characters have suffered came as a result of his direct responsibility, without taking away our hatred towards Saturn as well. This also means that one of the main villains was still introduced as early as Jaya, just that we only saw the aspects of him, with the main body only being revealed so much later. And it makes sense that unlike Vegapunk, where we had the good and the evil, the wise and the greedy, in what is a varied personality, in the case of Imu most of his aspects just showcase different aspects of evil. There is no good amongst the Gorosei because Imu’s heart has always been pure evil.

This would also perfectly explain how all of them appear to be perennially youthful and share so many powers together. We already saw how Saturn looked the exact same at God Valley 38 years ago, meaning he has had the perennial youth surgery just like Imu, but if they are all the same person across different bodies, it would make sense how the perennial youth was able to extend as well. Especially if maybe these are special bodies that Imu has synthesized to be able to infinitely regenerate and have special properties.

It all makes so much perfect sense, and if Vegapunk were to detail the truth about Imu and potentially his satellites too, then this would be a perfect time to reveal that. Which would mean that what we are witnessing here isn’t just a formidable foe, we are fighting what could very well be the main antagonist of the series, as an event of historical proportions is coming our way!