Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiF0HFl4Ets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiF0HFl4Ets

Easter Eggs

Let’s go over both of the latest chapters! Regarding last week’s cover, this drawing of Smoker is actually meant to be a tribute to My Hero Academia ending its serialization, as Kohei Horikoshi had once submitted this drawing to the Usopp Gallery, the art segment featured at the end of every volume, when he was just a kid before serializing My Hero.

In this case however, the writing “One Piece” is changed for “Hero Aca”, obviously standing for “My Hero Academia”, but even further, on his vest is the writing 23 UGK, standing for Usopp Gallery Kaizokudan Volume 23, referring to the volume where he submitted his artwork.

As Vegapunk’s message finally concludes, we get to see a few more reactions to it. We see the people of Dress Rosa, with several dwarves among them, reacting to the message. On the back of some of their outfits we see the writings “Fuza na” and “Mono 2” or “Mono ni” in Japanese, which translate respectively to “you’ve got to be kidding me” and “property”, the latter being a reference to the character’s line of “this world will become the property of pirates?!”, or “this world will fall in the hands of pirates” if you want to translate it more naturally.

Next we get to see three bizarre characters, who are in fact an incredibly deep cut reference that probably only the most veteran of One Piece fans might recognize. These three characters were originally created for a Shonen Jump contest by Eiichiro Oda alongside his colleagues, the author of Rurouni Kenshin and Shaman King, pitting them against crews that the fans would design. They are known as the “Firm Curry Pirates” and they are formed by Hippie “the Skull Curry” in the center, Scimitarta on the right, and Hiro Gomon on the left. Hiro Gomon is always accompanied by a wooden horse he calls Mokuba, which can be seen on the edge of the panel here as well.

At Marine Headquarters we get a reaction shot from Vice-Admiral Stainless, having appeared several times in the series, and behind him is someone who looks a lot like Bogard, though it’s unclear if that’s meant to be him. We also get to see Koby, who mentions he must stop Luffy’s dream, though it’s worth noting he’s specifically saying that he must stop his dream rather than Luffy directly.

Final Words

Before Vegapunk’s message ends completely, as the transmission den den mushi blows up, there is one last thing he says:

“That’s the truth. Regarding Joyboy, his…”

In his final words, Vegapunk says “Joyboy wa”, which means “Joyboy is” and “Kare no”, which means his, a male possessive term. In this case, looking back at the start of his conversation, it seems evident now that the “man he didn’t know enough about” that Vegapunk was speaking of wasn’t referring to someone like Imu but actually Joyboy, with Vegapunk not knowing enough about Joyboy to be able to fully judge him, and unsure of Joyboy’s true intentions due to wishing to let the ancient weapons linger in this world.

At the same time, before he leave us, Emet shares some final words with us:

I’m sorry Joyboy…
I wanted to apologize to you…
I know it well…!!
That there is no way you could still be alive…!!
But… that look is so nostalgic…
It revived… my feelings from that day.
I’m sorry, Joy Boy…
That I couldn’t… make you king…

The fact that Emet refers to Joyboy not being able to become King is a really interesting concept, because many of us have speculated for a long time that Joyboy could have been the king of the ancient kingdom, since it is evident now from Vegapunk’s message he was at least the leader of these people of the D. clan. But perhaps Joyboy’s ambition was grander and his meaning of becoming “king” was similar to what Luffy intends, especially with Emet laughing at Luffy’s remark of wanting to become the “pirate king”. Him recognizing Luffy as a D. clan member further drives this parallel.

Joyboy’s Haki

Emet pulls a compartment from within him and pulls out a rope. As the knot on the rope is undone, a massive wave of conqueror’s haki is unleashed, being the haki of the original Joyboy. It seems that somehow they were able to find a way in the Void Century to imbue haki inside items, perhaps similar to how black blades are forged by imbuing haki within them.

It’s worth noting this technology is also similar to that of Weatheria, where Haredas showcased how wind could be stored inside of knots. This connection is particularly relevant because in One Piece Odyssey it was implied that Birka, the homeland of Enel, and by extent Weatheria which was founded by Birkans, were descendants of allies of the ancient kingdom. And thus the weather technology from Weatheria, upon which Nami’s current clima tact is built, may actually be some remnants of ancient kingdom technology. The game isn’t canon, but given how they worked with Oda it makes a lot of sense that the part of Birka being connected to the ancient kingdom could be, and this only drives that connection further.

Joyboy’s haki blast is so powerful that it splits the skies in half, much like the clashes between other powerful conqueror’s haki users, but in this case doing it entirely on its own alone. At the same time, the haki blast is so powerful that it knocks out the Gorosei out of their devil forms and even sends back Warcury, Nasujuro, and Peter back to Mary Geoise, though Saturn interestingly remains behind. We don’t understand exactly how this works, but my best guess is that Joyboy’s haki nullified the devil powers of the Gorosei. We know that very strong haki can nullify devil fruit abilities, so while the Gorosei may not be fruit users but actual devils, it’s still possible that haki may negate their abilities, and in this case it’s so powerful that they are knocked out of their transformations, and their warping is negated as well. However since Saturn traveled physically to Egghead rather than coming from Mary Geoise, it could be the reason why he stayed behind. Mars is also already at Mary Geoise and it’s possible that Luffy’s attack may have cancelled his summoning as well, though it’s also possible that Luffy just sent him flying so far he flew all the way close to Mary Geoise. And in an unusual display, in this case, Mars is actually sitting on the couch.

At the same time however, within the chamber of flowers Imu falls to his knees in shock, recognizing the haki as Joyboy’s. This may not seem like it but it’s a massive deal, as it strongly implies a long standing theory about Imu’s true nature. The fact that he felt Joyboy’s haki as if he was there in Egghead would suggest that as many of us thought, the Gorosei are in fact extensions of Imu’s body. We already know the Gorosei are connected in some form as they can speak telepathically, so it would make perfect sense if the Gorosei are all clones of Imu in the same way the Satellites are clones of Vegapunk. At the same time, it’s also possible that Imu has such strong observation haki he could feel Joyboy all the way from Mary Geoise, but being honest, considering how it’s literally on the other side of the world, if Imu had this absurd level of haki, he would clearly notice way more things than just this, so I think the idea that he felt it through the Gorosei, especially to the level of intensity he felt it, is way more likely.

Joyboy

As the Straw Hats sail away safely, Emet recalls an old memory with none other than Joyboy, who makes his first debut in the series!! To no one’s shock, even if it should technically be a massive reveal, Joyboy is indeed wearing what looks like a straw hat. It’s also worth noting that compared to Emet, Joyboy appears to be quite tall, considerably larger than someone like Luffy. Which roughly fits the size of the straw hat in Mary Geoise, which wasn’t giant size but was larger than a normal person, which would perfectly fit the same straw hat Joyboy is wearing here size-wise, again reinforcing the idea that the hat in Mary Geoise belonged to Joyboy.

It’s also worth noting that given his body build Joyboy doesn’t seem to be a Buccaneer, though that’s assuming from Kuma and Klapp that all Buccaneers had the same swole build, unless somehow Joyboy was a Buccaneer and thus very big and large but simply with a thinner body. But if he isn’t a Buccaneer, that makes me wonder what exactly was the crime of the Buccaneers and why Saturn attributed it to Kuma’s dream of wanting to become like Nika.

I also should mention that some people seem to think that Joyboy could have a pegleg and an artificial hand, though it’s hard to tell if this is the case or if it’s just another case of a One Piece character skipping leg day. There’s at least though the possibility that Joyboy could be the famous pirate in an eyepatch that Oda mentioned would appear in One Piece before the end of the story.

As for his speech pattern in Japanese, it’s one that is highly reminiscent of someone like young Roger, using the same first person “ore” pronoun as Luffy and Roger, while also sounding energetic and boastful like Roger was.

It’s also interesting to think what the square item he is sitting on may actually be. It looks a bit like the buildings on top of Zou, but they are way too small in comparison to Emet, they should be a lot larger. So I think that this is either something else or potentially even a poneglyph given its square shape, which would make sense as to why Joyboy is sitting on it. Speaking about Emet also, we get to see him with some clothes on, which actually resemble a lot those of giants like Brogy, which might point to some connection between Emet and Elbaf. At this time, both of his horns were intact as well.

As Emet recalls these final memories, the editor’s note in the Japanese release reads “As it reminisces, Emet slumbers away…”, implying that Emet is either running out of energy again or even potentially dying all together, taking away with him all those memories of the Void Century.

Egghead Timeline

Moving on to the following chapter, we get a complete outline of the events that led to the present and how Vegapunk already found out about York’s betrayal. However, it can be hard to keep track of when exactly all these events happened, so allow me to summarize the general timeline of the Egghead Arc in chronological order:

All of this begins at the start of the current year of One Piece, the year 1524 of the Kaienreki Sea Calendar. In January, 3 months ago, York started her plan to rat Vegapunk out. She tampered with her syncing to Punk Records and used a white den den mushi to contact the Five Elder Planets.

A month later, in February, or 2 months ago, the Government sends CP5 to investigate Egghead. However, they are unable to find anything and they leave the island empty handed. However, as they leave, York manipulates the Sea Beast Weapons to capture the Cipher Pol members, in order to bait the Government to search more deeply and find proper evidence to arrest Vegapunk. At around the same time, the Straw Hats go through Fishman Island and enter the New World.

After another month passes, one month ago in March, CP7 arrives at Egghead to conduct another investigation, but history repeats itself and they are captured by York as well. Around this time the Straw Hats arrive at Wano, and also around the same time that Cobra dies and Sabo escapes from Mary Geoise. By March 17th, or around three weeks ago, the Raid of Onigashima takes place.

A week later, the festival in Wano takes place as Luffy and Zoro wake up, and around the same time, around March 25th, or two weeks ago, CP8 arrives at Egghead and vanishes again. At that same time, Vegapunk, Shaka, and Pythagoras discover that someone has stolen a fragment of the Mother Flame, indicating that this is shortly after York stole part of the Mother Flame and sent it to the Five Elders just prior. The three Vegapunks try to discover who is the traitor, which they work on over the next two weeks, while keeping their synced memories in stealth mode.

As another week passes, around April 1st, or one week ago, Pythagoras discovers that it was York who stole the Mother Flame, and the three prepare a plan of action.

On the next day, around April 2nd or 6 days ago, the Straw Hats leave Wano. At the same time, Imu deploys his ancient weapon, seemingly Uranus, by feeding it the Mother Flame and eradicates the Lulusia Kingdom. Vegapunk notices this and realizes that this attack will generate a delayed earthquake in a few days.

Then, four days later, or two days ago, around April 6th, Vegapunk records his message to be transmitted to the world. Since Stella, Pythagoras, and Shaka are all in Stealth Mode and later wipe their memories, this means the parts of the message we didn’t hear ourselves cannot be unfortunately recalled by someone like Lilith. After this, the three of them hide the transmission den den mushi inside the iron giant. This also means that when Vegapunk met Luffy by the iron giant he wasn’t trying to hide the den den mushi, he was simply trying to warp there to meet Luffy.

It’s worth noting in these scenes that Vegapunk mentions that they must preserve the technology of the “Kumofuto”. This refers to to the machine that generates clouds that is shown in the panel, as the word is a combination of the Japanese word for clouds “kumo”, and potentially the word “kurafuto” or “craft” in English, meaning “Cloud Crafting”. This is in order to generate island clouds in case the world were to submerge, which seems to reinforce the idea that islands like Skypiea may have been man-made by angels of the Void Century in order to avoid sinking beneath the waves after the great flood of the Void Century. This does however also make one wonder why this is being mentioned here, and if this is some kind of chekov’s gun that will be used in a future arc by Lilith or something of the like when it’s needed the most.

The three of them then wipe their memories to ensure that the plan goes underway without York knowing. They claim that this is going to be their victory, which parallels Shaka’s message that Ohara also managed to attain their victory by preserving most of its books, in what seems to be a clear parallel between how the Ohara Incident and the Egghead Incident went. Upon waking up, the three realize that they are going to die from the letter that is left behind.

The next day, around April 7th, or one day ago, Shaka calls Dragon to inform him that he believes he is going to die, having been informed by the letter on the day prior. The Straw Hats arrive on the island and Vegapunk tells Luffy he believes the Government is going to kill him as well, so faced with a new miracle for an exit with someone who can defend him, Vegapunk decides to try and gamble his chances in an escape. He is however captured by York, shocked that she is the traitor, but this is all part of his plan to make York think that she’s the one in control as Vegapunk remembers nothing about a traitor. Overnight, the Straw Hats capture York and seize control of the Labophase. Unfortunately though, Shaka and Pythagoras are killed by York’s actions.

The next morning, present day around April 8th, a massive earthquake strikes the world just as Vegapunk predicted, raising the global sea level. Kizaru and Saturn launch their offensive on Egghead, and Vegapunk Stella is killed by them, triggering the den den mushi to send out its transmission. Atlas loses her life and supposedly so does Edison, even if that hasn’t been fully clarified now, but Lilith manages to escape with the Straw Hats as they leave Egghead Island. Most of Vegapunk’s transmission manages to reach most of the world, warning them of Imu’s impending plan and the importance of Joyboy and the One Piece in the bigger picture. Vegapunk’s mention of the earthquake makes the world realize that his words must be true.

However, York has remained alive at Egghead, so unless Stella put another precaution into place, now she and Saturn can seize the Power Plant and generate more Mother Flames, which could endlessly power Imu’s ancient weapon. We don’t know how long it would take for those Mother Flames to be generated, but it’s evident that they are fighting against the clock to stop Imu from destroying the world.

Vegapunk concludes his final message with a very simple wish: he detailed in his transmission that whoever finds the One Piece will be able to affect the fate of the world, but he confesses to Sanji and Franky that… “I hope that your crew… is the one that finds the One Piece!!!”.

Thus closes the curtain on the Egghead Arc, as we proceed full speed to Elbaf, which we’ll reach within less than a day in real time. With that, we must say goodbye to Egghead, to all the characters, moments and lore reveals. I remember vividly when Egghead first began, I had just turned 24 and was visiting New York for the Times Square takeover, and we were hot off the heels of Film RED coming out. And now two years later, it’s crazy to look back on it all. From when we first set foot on the island, through meeting all the Punks, Luffy vs Lucci and the secrets of devil fruits, the Stussy twist, the games of Among Us, to Kid getting defeated, Garp storming Hachinosu, seeing what happened at the Reverie, Luffy vs Kizaru, the Kuma flashback, the Five Planets descending, Vegapunk’s message, Bonney’s transformation, and Emet’s final moments, Egghead has been a One Piece arc unlike any other. Being completely honest and transparent, I feel like Egghead has been one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had as a One Piece fan. I’ve been through so many One Piece arcs so I know this is not recency bias, put simply the final saga of One Piece has been an experience on a whole different level. Maybe it might not have been the objectively best arc or have the most impeccable writing of them all, but I can confidently say that Egghead is the most fun I’ve ever had reading a One Piece arc weekly. To all the friends I’ve made across these years, to all the fans I’ve been able to share this adventure with, and to Eiichiro Oda for writing one of the most emotional experiences of my life, all I can say is… Thank you, Egghead!