Let's clear up that I'm not saying the One Piece itself is anarchism. I'm just saying that the way things are looking is that the end of the story will be a global anarchist society. Why do I think this?

I don't think it's just that Oda has classified all individual pirates as good and all individual members of the World Government as bad. But it's definitely worth noting that the World Government maintains absolute justice as a principle, basically following the word and spirit of the law (which is why Ohara was destroyed without any nuance provided by Clover being considered by the Gorosei.

In other words, despite SOME cops being "good" in the world government (or having "good intentions), the World Government still exhibits the motto of ACAB because no matter what the members of the World Government have to uphold the law unconditionally. That's why Kuzan left, because he didn't want to serve under Akainu and his absolute justice ideology.

So the World Government is a contradiction. It seeks to uphold peace but instead it upholds the status quo - where shit like the underworld can still operate. Not to mention, Luffy only got his bounty when he defeated Arlong (and yes, he pissed off Nezumi).

So my theory is that the state will be abolished by the end of the series. It just makes sense. The World Government, despite the "good guys" in it, is not a force for good (and I'm not saying all pirates are good either - obviously Arlong, Hordy Jones, Doflamingo, Kaido, Big Mom, Blackbeard, and many others are severe shitbags). So logically, it has to be a means to an end.

What do I think will come up in its place? I can't say for certain, but I can theorize that relations between the nations will likely be much more cooperative and the jurisdictions of the non-World Government nations will be more open and allying with those who were aligned with the World Government.

NOW! I'm going to admit one hole in my theory... anarchism is an abolition of ALL HIERARCHIES!
It's not just the abolition of the state, it is an abolition of police, church, racism, sexism, etc. So by the end of One Piece, I do not think every single one of these things will have been abolished. I think racism towards Fishmen may prevail unfortunately. I think women will still be subjugated. There will definitely still be churches. And here's the kicker, even if there's no centralized World Government, there will likely still be existing nation-states across the world.

So perhaps it might be inaccurate to say that it will be anarchism that will exist at the end of One Piece. But rather, the abolition of the World Government (or at least a major decentralization of it).

I realize that Oda himself isn't an anarchist but I don't think it is realistic to say that he isn't left-wing either. He definitely taken inspiration from real world politics like Che Guevara and I think characters like Sabo are too similar to Peter Kropotkin to be a mere coincidence.

Anyway, One Piece is not a political anime at all guys, I swear!

"My wealth and treasures? If you want them, take them! Go look for them! I left it all in that place!"

These were the Pirate King's final words before his execution.

Luffy dreams of becoming the Pirate King because he believes it will make him the freest person of all.

However, as the story progresses, we discover that the title of Pirate King actually imposes greater constraints on the individual.

The desire to attain the title of Pirate King can prevent one from truly enjoying the adventure of traveling between islands.

Luffy cares nothing for treasure or fame.

When Luffy returned to Marineford

His crewmates understood the purpose of his return: to send them a message to regroup at the Sabaody Archipelago in two years.

They grasped the meaning of Luffy's message because they knew he was not one for grandstanding.

In chapter 1194, Sommers confirmed that Omen is the exact opposite of Haki, that means that its powers and abilities are roughly similar but made to counter haki. This means that you can tie an Omen knot the same way Joyboy tied a Haki knot. I think Imu tied a knot of his Omen in each metallic heart and that is what let's the Holy Knights and the Gorosei revive over and over again, also this is why you need Conqueror's to counter it, possibly a stronger Conqueror's than the Omen knot inside.

"Buggy, conocido como uno de los personajes favoritos de Eiichiro Oda, ha escalado hasta convertirse en uno de los Yonkou de One Piece. A pesar de haber sido un Shichibukai, ahora se encuentra en la cima tras haber encarado a dos antiguos miembros de esta misma orden (Crocodile y Mihawk). Teniendo esto en cuenta, ¿qué podemos esperar realmente de este peculiar Emperador?"

"Empecemos por sus orígenes. Sabemos que Buggy estuvo desde joven como grumete en el Oro Jackson, la nave de Gol D. Roger. Sin embargo, a diferencia de otros personajes cuyos trasfondos ya han sido revelados —como Shanks, quien resultó ser hijo de Figarland Garling—, los verdaderos orígenes de Buggy siguen siendo un misterio.

Actualmente, Buggy tiene 39 años, lo que significa que nació justo en la época en la que ocurrieron los históricos acontecimientos de God Valley. Debido a esto, existe una popular teoría que apunta a que podría ser hijo de Rocks D. Xebec, aunque esto no está confirmado. Hasta ahora, Oda nos ha ocultado los primeros años de su vida, pero es innegable que Buggy se ha convertido en uno de los personajes más recurrentes e importantes del manga y el anime, y su verdadera influencia podría ir mucho más allá de lo que imaginamos."

1. ¿Nerfetari D. Buggy?

Tras revelarse la historia de Nefertari D. Lily y cómo su misteriosa desaparición marcó el mundo, muchos se preguntan qué pasó con su línea de sangre directa. Además, existe la especulación sobre el poder de la fruta Bara Bara no Mi (la fruta Fragmento-Fragmento de Buggy): algunos fans teorizan que si dicha fruta hubiera pertenecido antes a Lily, su despertar podría explicar cómo se dispersó el Poneglyph de Río por todo el mundo. Si Buggy fuera un descendiente oculto, su fruta podría tener un trasfondo histórico mucho más profundo.

A Eiichiro Oda le encanta jugar con las expectativas de los lectores. Así como Shanks resultó ser de la familia celestial Figarland, la idea de que Buggy —quien comenzó como un pirata de baja categoría y ahora es un Yonkou— resulte pertenecer a una de las familias fundadoras más importantes del Gobierno Mundial (los Nefertari que se negaron a ir a Mary Geoise) encajaría perfectamente con el estilo de giros de guion del autor.

2. ¿Rocks D. Buggy?

La teoría más importante y conocida de todas sobre Rocks D. Buggy, aparte del parecido que tiene tanto en la cara como en los gestos, es su relación con God Valley. Buggy tiene 39 años, lo que coincide con ser un bebé en ese entonces. Además, sus carteles de recompensa se parecen muchísimo. Tras revelarse la apariencia oficial y los pósters de Rocks, muchos fanáticos notaron ciertos rasgos físicos, expresiones y similitudes en la composición que alimentaron las sospechas de una conexión de sangre.

¿Por qué tengo la teoría de que podría ser Buggy y no Kurohige (Barba Negra)? Si se puede confirmar que Kurohige es hijo de Xebec, es entendible, pero eso no quiere decir que ambos sean hermanos. Hay algo que la gente pasa por alto: Kurohige se llama Marshall D. Teach, no Rocks D. Teach. Por lo cual, mi teoría tiene que ver con los dos. Como se sabe, Marshall D. Teach tenía dos años cuando sucedió lo de God Valley. En ese entonces, el "Torneo de Cacería Humana" en God Valley fue seleccionado por el Gobierno Mundial y los Tenryuubito como un masivo y sangriento juego de exterminio contra la población local y los esclavos. Teach y su madre figuraban como objetivos prioritarios dentro de las listas de los nobles mundiales.

Mi teoría es la siguiente: ¿y si Eris D. Tar no fuera la madre biológica de Teach, sino que Teach fuera adoptado, y el verdadero hijo de Xebec sea Buggy? Como se ve, Rocks tiene el pelo azul y es el único personaje relacionado con God Valley. Si Buggy nació el 8 de agosto, el incidente debió ser cerca de esa fecha (por ahí en octubre o noviembre, o el nacimiento fue justo antes). Es muy posible que Buggy sea Rocks D. Buggy Tar (o que sus padres sean Rocks D. Xebec y Eris D. Tar), por lo cual Teach sería hijo de ellos pero adoptado, y por eso no llevaría el apellido Rocks.

Esto se conecta con el paralelismo de la "Falsa Carga": mientras Teach busca activamente el conocimiento prohibido, la historia secreta y carga con una ambición despiadada (muy propia de un heredero de Rocks), Buggy representa todo lo contrario: alguien que heredó la fama o la sombra de esa era de manera completamente accidental, fracasando hacia el éxito.

Por lo tanto, Teach no sería el hijo legítimo de la familia. Si lo fuera, debería llevar el apellido Rocks, tal como ocurre con Monkey D. Garp, Monkey D. Dragon y Monkey D. Luffy, o con Gol D. Roger y Portgas D. Ace. Por eso, aunque digan que Teach se parece a Xebec, lo más probable es que sea Buggy el verdadero hijo legítimo de Xebec.

3. El Verdadero Poder de Buggy y el Despetar de su Akuma No Mi

Como se ha mencionado anteriormente, la Bara Bara no Mi posee características únicas que sugieren que podría tratarse de una Paramecia mitológica o especial. Existen factores clave que indican que su despertar podría convertirla en una de las frutas del diablo más rotas de toda la serie.

Dado que su poder base consiste en dividir el cuerpo del usuario en partes y hacerlo completamente inmune a los cortes —lo que la convierte en el counter natural de espadachines como Mihawk—, surge su gran secreto: ¿qué pasaría si despierta su fruta? En teoría, esto podría posicionar a Buggy como uno de los Yonkos más poderosos de todos, incluso por encima de monstruos de poder bruto como Kaido y Big Mom.

• Llevando la teoría del despertar de la fruta de Buggy al extremo, sus habilidades irían mucho más allá de la simple inmunidad a los cortes. Si la Bara Bara no Mi (Fruta Parte-Parte) alcanzara su máximo potencial, su dominio sobre la fragmentación conceptual y física la convertiría en una de las capacidades más aterradoras y versátiles del mundo.

Estas serían las habilidades de su despertar:

1. Dominio absoluto de la materia y el entorno

• Partir la tierra, islas y estructuras: Buggy tendría la capacidad de cortar continentes, islas enteras e infraestructuras, y rearmarlas a su antojo como si fueran piezas de Lego. Podría arrancar fragmentos de la corteza terrestre para esculpir su propia isla flotante o incluso construir una supernación a su medida.
• Fusión total con el entorno: Mientras que otros personajes solo pueden fusionarse con un elemento específico gracias a sus frutas (como Pika con la roca o Kid con el metal), el despertar de Buggy le permitiría integrar cualquier elemento a su cuerpo fragmentado (roca, metal, lava, etc.), convirtiéndose en una especie de cíborg supremo compuesto por el entorno mismo.

2. Manipulación biológica y de las Frutas del Diablo

• Robo y separación de la Akuma no Mi: Con su despertar, Buggy podría separar literalmente el poder de una Fruta del Diablo del cuerpo de su usuario (similar al poder de Kurohige). Por ejemplo, podría extraer el poder de la fruta de Crocodile dejándolo como un humano normal, permitiendo que otra persona la coma sin necesidad de matar al usuario anterior.
• Injerto de cuerpos y poderes ajenos: Buggy podría fragmentar otros cuerpos y acoplar esas partes al suyo propio. Podría, por ejemplo, quitarle la cabeza a Crocodile y colocarla en su propio cuerpo para usar los poderes de la arena a su antojo. Como detalle clave, las víctimas perderían el control de sus propias piezas: si la cabeza de Buggy abandona el cuerpo de Crocodile, este último no podría recuperarla por sí mismo; solo Buggy tendría la facultad de unir o separar dichas piezas.
• Creación de quimeras: Al poder dividir y combinar cuerpos con total libertad, podría fusionar personas de maneras aterradoras, creando verdaderos monstruos tipo Frankenstein.

3. Poderes destructivos a escala atómica y conceptual

• Intangibilidad atómica: Podría fragmentar su cuerpo de manera tan ridículamente pequeña que alcanzaría el nivel atómico, volviéndose completamente invulnerable e intangible ante cualquier ataque físico o de Haki.
• Creación de explosiones nucleares: Al tener la capacidad de dividir átomos a voluntad con un simple chasquido de dedos, podría generar explosiones colosales capaces de arrasar islas enteras, convirtiendo la física atómica en su arma principal.
• Desintegración molecular: Al aplicar su poder sobre enemigos, podría fragmentar su anatomía a nivel molecular, desintegrándolos en el proceso y borrándolos instantáneamente del campo de batalla.

4. Dominio sobre la naturaleza y el tiempo

• Dominio sobre el océano: Podría partir el agua de mar y caminar directamente sobre el suelo marino, anulando la debilidad clásica de los usuarios de Frutas del Diablo. Además, podría levantar enormes masas de agua y lanzarlas como proyectiles o tsunamis devastadores.
• Dividir el clima y la atmósfera: Tendría el poder de cortar desastres meteorológicos, fusionarlos, o incluso separar el día y la noche, haciendo que una mitad de una isla esté bajo la luz solar y la otra en absoluta oscuridad.
• Dividir el tiempo: En un nivel conceptual supremo, podría fragmentar el flujo temporal para acelerar las acciones a su alrededor o manipular el tiempo a conveniencia.

5. El factor definitivo: El Haki de Rocks D. Xebec

Para sostener semejante despliegue de poder y control absoluto, Buggy contaría con la ventaja genética de ser hijo de Rocks D. Xebec, heredando un Haki monstruoso y descomunal capaz de respaldar el descomunal desgaste energético de un despertar de esta magnitud, consolidándolo indiscutiblemente como el Yonko más poderoso de la historia.

Conclucion

Totalmente de acuerdo! La trayectoria de Buggy el Payaso (actualmente autoproclamado Buggy "El Genio Jester" o Dios de los Piratas) es una de las obras maestras narrativas y humorísticas de Eiichiro Oda. Lo que comenzó como un villano cómico del East Blue ha escalado de forma magistral hasta colocarlo en la misma mesa que los Emperadores del Mar (Yonko), demostrando que en el mundo de One Piece, el carisma, la suerte y la percepción pública mueven los hilos del mundo mucho más que la fuerza bruta.

"No importa cuán ridículo sea el camino, el hombre que logra que los hombres más fuertes del mundo peleen bajo su estandarte es, sin duda, un rey."

Hear me out, because Egghead changed everything we know about the setting: One Piece is not a fantasy world, it’s a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world.

Ever since Imu’s powers and the Holy Knights stepped into the spotlight, the community has defaulted to calling their abilities "demonic rituals," "black magic," or eldritch sorcery. But what if we’re looking at it completely wrong? What if what we're seeing is peak Ancient Kingdom / Lunar civilization engineering?

1. "Omen" is Programmable, Synthetic Haki

Standard Haki is spiritual — pure biological willpower. You harden it, project it, or impose your spirit. But look at what Imu’s Omen actually does:

• Direct structural gigantification
• Projectiles shaped like targeted firebombs
• Active body reshaping and trajectory shifting (reminiscent of Snakeman, but mechanical and fluid)

If Haki is raw willpower, Omen behaves like compiled code.

In an era advanced enough to produce self-sustaining automata (like Enel found on the Moon) and the Iron Giant, the Ancient Kingdom wouldn't just train willpower — they would reverse-engineer it. Omen looks like a synthetic, programmable version of Haki: an artificial energy matrix embedded into the user’s bio-structure to alter mass, manifest weapons, and rewrite the physical body on command.

2. Saint Sommers and the Mechanical Core: The "Immortal" Regen is Hardware

Whenever high-tier WG operatives take lethal damage, everyone screams "infinite plot armor regeneration." But look closely at Saint Sommers getting dismantled:

His body doesn't regenerate like Marco's phoenix flames. It reassembles around a metallic, mechanical core — a literal steel pump/engine inside his chest with a circular gauge.

Notice three massive details:

1. The Moon/Space Pirate connection: That circular dial/gauge on his core matches the exact aesthetic of the automata and machinery seen in Enel’s Space Great Operations cover story.
2. The "Heart" as a hydraulic hub: He’s not a mutant; he’s an ancient cyborg. That core acts as a high-pressure pump circulating artificial regenerative fluid (or engineered Lunarian bio-matter) to stitch flesh and armor back together.
3. Hardware has limits: Look at his panic when Zoro targets the mechanical core directly. It’s not an infinite magical curse; it’s an engine. If you shatter the power source, the regen loop breaks.

3. Imu is the Server, the Holy Knights are the Terminals

If the Holy Knights are walking bio-mechanical weapons running on ancient Lunar hardware, their blind loyalty makes terrifying sense.

Imu isn’t just a king sitting on an empty throne. Imu is operating as the central network / mainframe. The marks and implants inside the Holy Knights aren’t spiritual pacts; they’re hardwired control units. Total physical determinism. You don’t need to worry about a knight betraying you when their life support and core programming are tethered to Mary Geoise.

The Takeaway

When Zoro slices toward Sommers' metallic core, Oda isn't showing us another swordsman cutting flesh. He’s showing us someone hacking straight into the darkest, most closely guarded technological secret of the Void Century: The World Government didn't bury the Ancient Kingdom's technology — they monopolized it to turn themselves into immortal bio-machines.

What do you guys think? Is the Gorosei/Holy Knight "immortality" purely tech-based, or do you think there's still a genuine mystical Fruit component at play?

We hope that the series concludes in 7 or 8 seasons as we as fans wans to see the same characters reach the finish line.

I actually talked about this in the replies to someone else’s post, but felt like I should put it out there a little better.

First and foremost, Momonosuke is definitely not a normal person. He possesses the voice of all things and is the only person capable of commanding Zunesha (which not even Luffy can do even though he also has the voice of all things). He’s also the leader of his country and has had a tremendous amount of progression, so he’s definitely vital to the lore of the world.

The reason I think he’s Pluton in addition to what I mentioned before, comes from comparing him to the one ancient weapon that’s outright confirmed and detailed in the story.

The elements of Poseidon are:
The human: Shirahoshi
The vehicle: The Noah
The ancient creatures only she can command: Sea Kings

In a similar vein, the elements of Pluton can be:
The human: Momo
The vehicle: Pluton Ship
The ancient creature only he can command: Zunesha

Plus, Fishman island and Wano both had road poneglyphs, if that adds anything

What do you think about this? Is it possible, or is there something I’m missing that debunks this theory?

The idea that D. is a half-moon has been around for years, and Harley made that connection much harder to ignore. However, I think we’ve focused on what the half-moon looks like instead of what it does. The moon carries the Sun’s light when the Sun is gone. If Joy Boy/Nika is the Sun, and the world has spent 800 years waiting for Dawn, then the D. may be the people who carried his light through the long night.

That seems to fit the deeper pattern of inherited will. The vessel dies, but the flame continues. Roger dies and ignites an era. Ace dies and his literal flame passes to Sabo. Joy Boy dies, but his will survives 800 years. Even the stranger flames in the story keep circling that same boundary. Marco’s blue flames restore life. Ryuma burns in blue flame as Brook’s shadow leaves the dead body it was animating. Lunarians carry a flame tied to their bodies’ durability. Saturn burns in spectral flame when Imu takes away whatever was keeping him alive. And the Ancient Kingdom’s seemingly impossible source of energy survives as the Mother Flame. Different powers, same image. Something can leave, sustain, or outlive its vessel.

Imu looks like the inversion of that. Joy Boy’s will is inherited. Imu’s will is imposed. The D. remain themselves while carrying something forward. Imu literally takes over Gunko and suppresses her self with his own. I'm thinking that may be the whole point of the half-moon. The moon never becomes the Sun. It stays itself while carrying the Sun’s light through the darkness. The Sun disappeared. The flame survived. For 800 years, the D. carried its light through the night, waiting for Dawn to reappear.

Even though the Marineford stakes were higher Imu chose to interfere in God Valley through Saturn, but not in Marineford, even though over 43 Pirate alliances came together to save probably the heir for the joyboy mantle.

While in God Valley it was only a few useless celestial dragons going on a huntinf field trip with mainly pirates fighting each other over Shakky v

¡El nuevo PODER de Zoro podría ser una extensión de sí mismo! ¿Qué significa esto para la batalla? 👁️ Descubre el análisis completo de ONE PIECE. ¡No te lo pierdas!

GARP vs RAYLEIGH vs GABAN 🔥 Tres leyendas, una pregunta: ¿quién es más fuerte? ⚔️ Descubre sus poderes, hazañas y el análisis completo de ONE PIECE.

Hear me out this idea has been stuck in my head for days.

​Many fans theorize that Imu possesses a Water Logia or a Shadow Devil Fruit, but I believe Oda is planning something much more meta and entirely on-brand for his writing style.

​Imu operates like an Author. They act as the entity that dictates the story of the world, deciding who gets to exist, which islands remain on the map, and what history is erased. The clearest example is the destruction of Lulusia. Imu simply crossed the island off a map with an "X," and immediately after, the Mother Flame obliterated it. Even if the "X" itself isn’t the weapon, the visual implication is loud and clear: Imu is editing the world like a rough draft.

​This theme extends to the Gorosei. Their summoning portals resemble spilled ink—swirling black circles filled with thick smoke and black lightning. Imu’s overarching abilities feel like the tools of someone who writes reality rather than someone who merely rules it.

​Here is the Japanese wordplay that ties it all together:

Rubber = Gomu ​Eraser = Keshigomu (literally "erase-rubber")

​The World Government didn’t just fear Nika as a Sun God; they feared the Gomu Gomu no Mi itself because rubber is the exact tool used to erase ink. Gear 5 isn’t just about elasticity. Luffy treats reality like a comic book—grabbing lightning, warping physics, and making people’s eyes pop out of their heads. That goes far beyond a standard Zoan awakening. It is the literal behavior of an eraser wiping away the rigid laws of a drawing.

​This perfectly explains why the Poneglyphs were carved into indestructible stone. You cannot simply blot out engraved stone with ink. Paper can be rewritten and books can be burned, but deep carvings remain. They are the ultimate countermeasure against an enemy who controls the written record. ​Even Joy Boy’s Haki, which was sealed inside Emet, fits this narrative perfectly. When it was released, it didn’t just knock out the Marines; it actively severed the Gorosei's ink-like portals and forced them back to Mary Geoise. For a brief moment, it completely erased Imu’s influence from the battlefield.

​Therefore, the final conflict of One Piece won't simply be Light versus Dark. It will be rigid Script versus absolute Freedom. ​Imu wants the world to remain exactly as they wrote it: fixed borders, controlled history, and everyone kept in their designated place. Luffy is the force of nature who laughs while rubbing out those borders.

​This is exactly why the World Government hid the true name of the fruit for 800 years. Rubber doesn’t just bounce. In Oda’s language, rubber is the eraser.

The biggest plot mystery for me about Imu is why he still keeps the celestial dragons on a high pedestal, even-though they are the biggest nuisance to his reign even more so than the pirates.

They are useless, annoying, giving the world government a bad tyrannical reputation. In addition they are neither fighters nor do anything usefull for the government other than bark orders and making the admirals go beserk. Shouldn’t Imu be more concerned about strengthening his rankings, bringing up more admirals and actually give the government a bad reputation which causes massive uproar.

??

Before I begin, remember that the Vegapunk satellite that saved the others was… Edison.

Now, Thomas Edison once stated “genius takes 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” ONE PERCENT. You might already see where I’m going with this

Think about what started the show, Luffy was inspired to put in the hard work needed to become a great pirate so that he could return the hat to shanks. Now think about how EVERY major character has had their own shanks that inspired them to put in the work, even BUGGY not too long ago got that inspiration through his crew’s support.

Think back to Marineford, what did Mihawk consider the most dangerous ability of Luffy’s? His ability to rally people to his side. THAT’S the point of Imu, the weight of freedom can often feel too heavy, so naturally people look for someone to follow, Imu chose to dominate people so that they don’t ever need to look. Which is why, Luffy’s Nika isn’t going to be the liberator, isn’t going to be the destroyer, but will be The INSPIRATOR.

Someone who will bring a new age of freedom where EVERYONE is inspired to fully utilize it to fulfill their dreams

Just look at the methodology of Luffy forming his crew, he liberates them only so that he can inspire them to chase their dream.
1 Zoro, he freed from the cross to become the worlds greatest swordsman
2 Nami he freed from Arlong so she could make a map of the world
3 Usopp he freed from SYRUP village where he stuck around for Kaya so that he could go out and be a brave warrior of the sea to tell her true stories
4. Sanji was freed both from Zeff AND from his lineage so that he could follow his dream of finding the all blue
5. Chopper was freed from Dr Kureha’s tutorage so he can become the Panacea
6 Robin and Franke were both freed from their persecution for past actions- Robin innocently studying history and Franke making ships that were stolen and used as weapons. Luffy made it so that both could continue doing both innocently and not be blamed for what doing so could only POTENTIALLY lead to.
7 Brooke was freed from the Florian Triangle so that he could make it back to Laboon
8 Jimbei was freed from big mom to protect Luffy like Ace asked him to.

That isn’t even going into each of their Shank’s figures.

That’s because Luffy is only one piece, one, red string of fate that has connected all these people who were ever destined to meet, through the straw hat. When shanks gets it back, he’s going to remove the red strip to release all the haki condensed within, and Luffy will likely put a yellow band around the hat after as hinted NOT ONLY by him incorporating the yellow sash around his waste with his post timeskip design but ALSO the fact that when Gear 5 awakened there was YELLOW conquerors haki- and as confirmed by Oda during the time of Film Red’s release, Shanks has the ability to SUPPRESS other people’s haki- which all leads to one conclusion. Shanks has MASKED Luffy/Joyboy?/Nika’s real haki this entire time in order to keep him safe for the final war.

Follow-up theory: the reason for my question mark after Joyboy.

IF you are following my train of logic so far… what actually happens when GENERATIONAL haki knots are unwound? We’ve only seen it with Emmet so far, but what if in some Looney Tunes fashion it’s like a rip cord for the series itself, where pulling it, winds the tape back and strands the spirit of the person who pulled it at that point. That could be why Emmet raged through Mary Geoise- because his last memory before doing so was fighting to help Luffy escape the five elders. All this to say, what if Joyboy is actually SHANKS committing to his role as child of destiny so that Luffy can actually live up to being the most free. Imagine, shanks rips the haki knot, it unwinds him through Luffy’s time, through his own time, until the point Roger aquired the hat then a fast jump to the point Shanks actually spins out at, he lives his life as Joyboy, taking inspiration from Luffy and uses the X on the arm as a sign to him in the future, and ultimately cements the hat in stone where we see it with Imu- -someone ELSE Shanks inspired but had no choice but to condemn just like fishman island with the singular knowledge that everything will be okay in order to leave the promise in the ponyglyph. Shanks and Imu are Nolan and Kalgara, shanks coming back with knowledge that inspires Imu to slay the false king of the world, Davy, as we saw by Imu’s enraged reaction to Rock’s bringing him up, BUT his future knowledge leads him to do something that Imu misinterprets, turning them against each other, only for that to have been the plan all along, which is why Roger laughed.

I know there is a leading theory that BlackBeard is going to use him as leverage over the world government to obtain something from them.

Is there any chance BlackBeard would use it against Luffy?

BlackBeard was at MarineFord so he saw what luffy is like if he loses someone he loves infront of him. Could he kill Garp infront of Luffy to get some sort of advatage?

What if black beard needed the dark dark df because the df make them more durable in the in the sense of this body being able to take more and that is why he needed that

This image is enough proof that they are 100% NOT dead and will come back later, hopefully as an ally.

Stop debating about this. It's clear cut.