In recent weeks, author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda’s best-selling One Piece manga series has given fans one of the most revelatory stretches in the series’ entire history. Information on the Void Century, the Ancient Weapons, Joy Boy, and more has been revealed via the Egghead arc’s climax. The end has primarily revolved around a post-mortem broadcast from Dr. Vegapunk.
The information about Joy Boy specifically is what has piqued fans’ interest following the apparent conclusion of Dr. Vegapunk’s broadcast in One Piece chapter 1118. One of the key facts fans learned about Joy Boy is that he was born at the start of the Void Century 900 years ago. This sent fans down a rabbit hole all but confirming Joy Boy as a Giant. Likewise, fans have realized that Oda was setting up Joy Boy’s reveal all the way back in Thriller Bark.
One Piece’s Thriller Bark arc proves to be a treasure trove of Joy Boy setup after Vegapunk’s broadcast
Oda may have used Thriller Bark's Oars as a vessel for setting up later Joy Boy reveals in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)
As mentioned above, the search for clues in Thriller Bark on Joy Boy’s reveal began with Dr. Vegapunk’s confirmation of him having been born 900 years prior to One Piece’s story. The fact that Joy Boy had the Gum-Gum Fruit, or Gomu-Gomu no Mi, and likely had been a Giant given the various hints to this identity further helped fans get a starting point.
The confirmation of his having the Gomu-Gomu no Mi, in particular, is interesting for what Gomu can be broken down into. These are the numbers 5 and 6 when splitting the word up into go and mu. Likewise, if you take the numeric values of the Fruit’s name and multiply them together (5 x 6 x 5 x 6), you get 900, which is also the number of years ago Joy Boy was born.
However, there’s also a Giant from One Piece’s Thriller Bark arc with a connection to the number 900, with Oars being the 900th zombie. He was also then infused with Luffy’s shadow, or, in other words, Joy Boy's, since Luffy has been identified as the “next” Joy Boy by Zunesha and others.
While this may seem to be surface-level, several other events within Thriller Bark support the idea that Oars was being used to set up the Joy Boy reveal. One of the most notable is that the first thing Oars did after coming to life was pretend to be a pirate. Likewise, Dr. Vegapunk’s broadcast revealed that Joy Boy was the world’s first pirate.
Dr. Vegapunk's Egghead arc reveals have completely recontextualized the events of Thriller Bark in terms of Joy Boy setup (Image via Toei Animation)
There’s also the fact that the song Binks’ Sake/Brew was introduced in the arc, with fans suspecting the song is meant to tell the tale of Joy Boy and his crew, and may have even been written by them. Additionally, Oars is called a Devil multiple times in the arc, and the D. Clan is constantly paralleled to Devils. Rosinante/Corazon calling them the “enemies of the Gods” and Zoro calling Luffy a demon when they first met further support this.
This becomes significant when considering that later on in One Piece, fans meet Oars’ descendent, Little Oars Jr., who was very close with Portgas D. Ace. Ace, an inheritor of the Will of D., gave Oars Jr. a straw hat of his own. Combined with the symbolism of Luffy and Roger’s Straw Hat, and the giant one in Mariejois, it seems clear that a connection is being drawn between Oars and Joy Boy/the D. Clan.
Oars Jr. also plays a role in this theory by nature of his kindness. While his forefather Oars was known as a greatly evil Giant with the nickname the Continent-Puller, it’s possible that Oars had good intentions behind these actions. It’s even likely that he was trying to connect the mostly sunk and fragmented islands to revive his ancestor’s (or possibly even his own) Ancient Kingdom.
In summation
Luffy becoming the next Joy Boy may have been set up all the way back in Thriller Bark (Image via Toei Animation)
While it remains to be seen how the story of Oars fully plays out with a Void Century and pre-story flashback, it’s clear that Oda was setting up the Joy Boy reveal through him. Likewise, it proves that Oda is using One Piece’s Final Saga to put any and all events that came before it in a new light and context, which has been incredibly effective and welcome thus far.
Related links
Iron Giant's looming apology to Joy Boy in One Piece could be sadder than fans are ready for
One Piece: Every difference between Nika, Joy Boy, and Luffy, explained
One Piece: Joy Boy and Nika are not the same and chapter 1114 spoilers all but confirms it
One Piece fans may already know who killed Joy Boy, and it explains an enigmatic apology
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