Theory Wano Arc

[ThatOtherGuy]

Hey guys,

Wano arc is one of the most anticipated arcs in the series. Hype for this arc began way back in Thriller Bark when Ryuuma introduced himself as one of the Samurai of Wano, and it seems that Oda drew a story set in Wano even before One Piece officially started (The story is titled Monsters, and stars none other than Ryuuma when he was alive).

There is even a couple of quotes which make it seem like we should be more hyped than we already are for Wano. In all honesty, I end up thinking about them every time I remember the upcoming arc lately. The first quote belongs to Oda in the latest Jump Fiesta:

One piece will finally enter Wano next year...

I'll introduce one of the legends lurking in the one piece universe... The greatest enemy ever will hinder their way. Perhaps it will be something related to whitebeard... can you believe Marineford will look cute compared to that?

Thr second quote is from the latest chapter of thf manga:

This situation (Kaido and Big Mom meeting and possibly allying again) will turn into something far bigger than anything we can imagine.

I think that these two quotes make it very clear that things will escalate much more quickly than we're anticipating, so I decided to make this thread to explore the possibilities around the corner. Let's see how all of this will play out by exploring which characters are entwined together in this.

Let's attempt to work out the participants in this coming war starting with the most obvious:

• The Strawhat Pirates: They are the protagonists of the story, and will of course be attempting to overthrow Kaido from his Yonko seat, with help from many allies, such as:
  • The Heart Pirates.
  • The Mink Tribe.
  • A good portion of the Samurai and Ninja of Wano.
  • The remnants of The Whitebeard Pirates.
  • The Strawhat Grand Fleet.
• The Beast Pirates: Being the current holders of the territory, and primary antagonists, I can only imagine that the action will revolve around them as much as it would the protagonists. Their allies include, but are not limited to:
  • The On Air Pirates.
  • X-Drake's crew.
  • Shogun of Wano followed by the rest of the Samurai and Ninja.
• The Big Mom Pirates: Big Mom is holding a massive grudge against Luffy, partly thanks to Big Mouth Morgan, and partly because Luffy pissed her off on the den den mushi twice, took Fishman Island for himself, beat up her strongest crewmates, ruined her tea party, broke the picture of her deceased foster mom, and copied her poneglyph... uh... Now that I summarized everything he did, I kinda feel dumb for not predicting that she'll chase him tbh... but no matter, Big Mom has a massive bone to pick with Luffy, and ancient history with Kaido and Garp which will be explored.
• The Sun Pirates: Now that Big Mom is showing up again where Luffy is, there is absolutely no way the fate of Jinbe and his former crew won't be explored in Wano.
• The Kid Pirates: Having their captain, and possibly more crew members, captured by Kaido, they are already involved. I expect them to join Luffy's alliance at least temporarily.
• The Hawkins Pirates: It's unclear what happened to Hawkins after he met Kaido, but whether he was beat up or he joined him, there is a very good chance he'll be in that battle field fighting for one of the two sides.
• The Marines: Kizaru was fired up to go right away, so I'm assuming that he will go. What I'm wondering about is how much reinforcements he'll bring. I'm guessing a lot, given that the first reason brought up for not going was the strength of the Samurai. Akainu is probably going to egg Fujitora to persue Luffy and Law like he promised. Garp seems to be in the center of the Luffy/Kaido/Big Mom plot, so he'll likely show up as well. Still, you can't really say Kizaru and Supernova without saying Pacifista and Sentomarou right? This is as good a time as any to meet Vegapunk as well, and get a look at the Newest Pacifista Models. This is all way too similar to Shabaody Arc already. I mean, even Saint Charloss is trying to get himself a Mermaid again
• Speaking of Mermaids though, we've already established that Luffy: the pirate currently protecting Fishman Island, Big Mom: the pirate formerly protecting fishman island, Jinbe: the other pirate who's always dedicated himself to protecting Fishman Island, Kaido: the only pirate outside this circle to potentially know about Shirahoshi being Poseidon (through X-Drake and Caribou), and the marines who are surrounding Shirahoshi right now, are all going to be in Wano. I think it only follows naturally that The Mermaid Princess and The Sea Kings show up there as well. Sai and Leo are already in Reverie, so they'll likely be the ones to escort Shirahoshi to the Strawhats for protection once shit hits the fan in Reverie. I think that Shirahoshi being exposed as Poseidon may very well be the catalyst for Akainu changing his mind and sending a massive portion of the marines strength out there.
• CP0: If there is an Ancient Weapon on the loose, I think it is completely safe to assume CP0 will be coordinating closely with the marines.
• The Shichibukai: One really can't expect the marines to move without appealing to the Shichibukai as well, especially since Fujitora seems determined to bring down their system. A good old fashioned comparisson will be made between the two systems, but it's not like the world government can really afford to let them go right this moment, with all that's going on. They might as well use them for this fight before pulling the plug. Of course, each Shichibukai will have their own agenda going in there. Boa Hancock for instance will likely be there for Luffy. Edward Weevil will find it very convenient that both Luffy and the Whitebeard Pirates are in the same island. I'm really not sure whether it's the right time for Mihawk to meet Zoro again, but a country-load of epic strong Samurai will probably warrant his attention anyway. Buggy may want to scold Luffy for taking his 4 giants and making him lose so much money, or something else, all that's important when it comes to Buggy is that the meme lives on

Any more crazy ideas out there about how to make this more epic?

 

[DieVIP]

For the shichibukai, you forgot Moria who has a story with Kaido.
As for the Supernovas, I think Urouge might be there. Bonney is still a mystery. And don't know if Capone and Gastino will be there.
I'm not sure if marines will be there, or at least let the pirates fight between each other and come at the end. But I'm pretty sure, like you said, Garp will be there. He will fight versus the leader of Rocks (lurking legend) and lose. That's when Luffy will revenge Garp (not sure if Garp should died or only beaten). I don't see Luffy fighting both Kaido and Big Mom in Wano.
Lastly, I don't see Shanks and Blackbeard coming to this already big war.

 

[McNuss]

I somehow have a feeling Big Mom won't make it to Wano, but will be defeated on her way there and forced to retreat. Meanwhile Laffitte will steal the Poneglyphs on WCI in her absence.

The reason for this is that I don't see her or her crew contributing in any way to the story anymore. We have seen her skillset, all of it. If she had an secret ultimate move, she would have used it already and killed the SHs. Instead, the SHs stole her poneglyphs and resolved Sanji's family business, and as such have no reason to engage her again. She got her flashback, the "Rocks" flashback will also involve Kaido so he alone is enough.
We also saw 100% of Katakuri, all his moves, we went in-depth with his character and his character arc has a conclusion.
Heck we have even seen all of Smoothie's moves even if she didn't do much. She can absorb moisture/juice from others and enlarge herself, like a sponge. Then she can make large slashes with her sword. Powerful? Yes! Interesting? No, absolutely boring. Potential for more? No, based on the explanation on her powers, there isn't much room for that.
WCI arc dealt with all the themes related to Big Mom - gender roles, family dynamics, disney musical, food addiction, utopia/dystopia, selfishness vs selflessness, etc. It was a great arc, imho one of the best. But it is over now and Wano will have new themes.

Big Mom leaving WCI creates a great oppurtunity. I believe other characters (among those that Doflamingo presented in his Throne Wars speech) need to score as well.
Currently Luffy is the only one with any achievements towards Pirate King. In order to become Pirate King one absolutely needs the 4 Road Poneglyphs and Luffy will have three of them after Wano, which means he will be three times closer to PK than Mom and Kaido. Actually even more than that since he also has the keys to translate them (Robin, Momonosuke, himself).
What did Luffy's rivals achieve? Blackbeard was always one step ahead of Luffy before and during the timeskip, but since then hasn't done anything noteworthy, his attack against the Revos didn't affect them much apparently. The others? Urouge defeated Snack and that's it. Kidd? Rotting in a prison. Bege? His assassination attempt failed. Others have already insubordinated themselves (Drake, Apoo).
Right now, Luffy is already almost PK and the only reason why this is not noticeable as a reader is because there is still so much story left to be told. However, the closer we get to the end, the more noticeable it becomes unless Oda changes something and makes Luffy's rivals score points for themselves. Which I am sure he will since that was the case in preskip One Piece as evidenced by Buggy's, Blackbeard's and Smoker's progression.

 

[Franz]

Big Mom in Wa?

Never.

The arc promises are enough complicated, if we add two emperors and even the Marina would risk a second Dressrosa with a thousand sub plots and confusing management.

 

[GreenGan]

We have seen her skillset, all of it. If she had an secret ultimate move, she would have used it already and killed the SHs.

Not really. She was in her tantrum when she fought the SH. She barely used Zeus, her fruit can have sooo much more developpment.

We also saw 100% of Katakuri, all his moves, we went in-depth with his character and his character arc has a conclusion.

Well Smoothie ? You've got a nice theory on how she's able to enlarge herself and throw big things but it's not really confirmed.
We didn't see how strong Streusen was either, and Bege said that he had a feeling the chief would make a stron opponent. We didn't get a big battle with Daifuku or Oven, I agree that you have made some point, but there are lots of posibilities for big Mom crew to be exploited. Kaidou owes her, she'll be there.

I don't see a Moria-like scenario for her.

 

[ThatOtherGuy]

I somehow have a feeling Big Mom won't make it to Wano, but will be defeated on her way there and forced to retreat. Meanwhile Laffitte will steal the Poneglyphs on WCI in her absence.

The reason for this is that I don't see her or her crew contributing in any way to the story anymore. We have seen her skillset, all of it. If she had an secret ultimate move, she would have used it already and killed the SHs. Instead, the SHs stole her poneglyphs and resolved Sanji's family business, and as such have no reason to engage her again. She got her flashback, the "Rocks" flashback will also involve Kaido so he alone is enough.
We also saw 100% of Katakuri, all his moves, we went in-depth with his character and his character arc has a conclusion.
Heck we have even seen all of Smoothie's moves even if she didn't do much. She can absorb moisture/juice from others and enlarge herself, like a sponge. Then she can make large slashes with her sword. Powerful? Yes! Interesting? No, absolutely boring. Potential for more? No, based on the explanation on her powers, there isn't much room for that.
WCI arc dealt with all the themes related to Big Mom - gender roles, family dynamics, disney musical, food addiction, utopia/dystopia, selfishness vs selflessness, etc. It was a great arc, imho one of the best. But it is over now and Wano will have new themes.

Big Mom leaving WCI creates a great oppurtunity. I believe other characters (among those that Doflamingo presented in his Throne Wars speech) need to score as well.
Currently Luffy is the only one with any achievements towards Pirate King. In order to become Pirate King one absolutely needs the 4 Road Poneglyphs and Luffy will have three of them after Wano, which means he will be three times closer to PK than Mom and Kaido. Actually even more than that since he also has the keys to translate them (Robin, Momonosuke, himself).
What did Luffy's rivals achieve? Blackbeard was always one step ahead of Luffy before and during the timeskip, but since then hasn't done anything noteworthy, his attack against the Revos didn't affect them much apparently. The others? Urouge defeated Snack and that's it. Kidd? Rotting in a prison. Bege? His assassination attempt failed. Others have already insubordinated themselves (Drake, Apoo).
Right now, Luffy is already almost PK and the only reason why this is not noticeable as a reader is because there is still so much story left to be told. However, the closer we get to the end, the more noticeable it becomes unless Oda changes something and makes Luffy's rivals score points for themselves. Which I am sure he will since that was the case in preskip One Piece as evidenced by Buggy's, Blackbeard's and Smoker's progression.

I think the fact that Luffy is gathering poneglyphs fast may just be by design. Perhaps Oda has truly decided to wrap up the series as quickly as possible. Since the beginning of Fishman Island, I've been wondering why the entire NW plot is considered one saga, and a good guess would be that everyone is going to be involved with each other and entwined up until the climax of the series, which has been true starting with Dressrosa, but in order for such a saga to climax properly, many of the players should be disqualified one way or another before the big finale.

You do bring a very good point about Blackbeard though. Being the one to play the finale with Luffy, Wano is a great opportunity for him to make some headway. The fact that Shanks showed up at Reverie makes me think that he has some solid intel on what Blackbeard might be up to.

I think that right now, Blackbeard may be more inclined to attack Big Mom head on as he did the revolutionaries, rather than sneak up on her poneglyph. I think the best way to set him up as a good final villain is to have him beat up a Yonko legitimately while Luffy beats Kaido with help. I figured it would be Shanks, which is why I didn't include either of them in my prediction for who shows up in Wano. But Big Mom works too.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 12, 2018, Original Post Date: Jun 12, 2018 ---

For the shichibukai, you forgot Moria who has a story with Kaido.
As for the Supernovas, I think Urouge might be there. Bonney is still a mystery. And don't know if Capone and Gastino will be there.
I'm not sure if marines will be there, or at least let the pirates fight between each other and come at the end. But I'm pretty sure, like you said, Garp will be there. He will fight versus the leader of Rocks (lurking legend) and lose. That's when Luffy will revenge Garp (not sure if Garp should died or only beaten). I don't see Luffy fighting both Kaido and Big Mom in Wano.
Lastly, I don't see Shanks and Blackbeard coming to this already big war.

Good point on Moriah and Urouge.

 

[McNuss]

Not really. She was in her tantrum when she fought the SH. She barely used Zeus, her fruit can have sooo much more developpment.


Well Smoothie ? You've got a nice theory on how she's able to enlarge herself and throw big things but it's not really confirmed.
We didn't see how strong Streusen was either, and Bege said that he had a feeling the chief would make a stron opponent. We didn't get a big battle with Daifuku or Oven, I agree that you have made some point, but there are lots of posibilities for big Mom crew to be exploited. Kaidou owes her, she'll be there.

I don't see a Moria-like scenario for her.

She no longer has Zeus

It's not a theory it is from latest SBS.

 

[GreenGan]

She no longer has Zeus

It's not a theory it is from latest SBS.

She might want it back. Do you have a link please ? (What's SBS ?)

 

[Takuan]

I somehow have a feeling Big Mom won't make it to Wano, but will be defeated on her way there and forced to retreat. Meanwhile Laffitte will steal the Poneglyphs on WCI in her absence.

The reason for this is that I don't see her or her crew contributing in any way to the story anymore. We have seen her skillset, all of it. If she had an secret ultimate move, she would have used it already and killed the SHs. Instead, the SHs stole her poneglyphs and resolved Sanji's family business, and as such have no reason to engage her again. She got her flashback, the "Rocks" flashback will also involve Kaido so he alone is enough.
We also saw 100% of Katakuri, all his moves, we went in-depth with his character and his character arc has a conclusion.
Heck we have even seen all of Smoothie's moves even if she didn't do much. She can absorb moisture/juice from others and enlarge herself, like a sponge. Then she can make large slashes with her sword. Powerful? Yes! Interesting? No, absolutely boring. Potential for more? No, based on the explanation on her powers, there isn't much room for that.
WCI arc dealt with all the themes related to Big Mom - gender roles, family dynamics, disney musical, food addiction, utopia/dystopia, selfishness vs selflessness, etc. It was a great arc, imho one of the best. But it is over now and Wano will have new themes.

Big Mom leaving WCI creates a great oppurtunity. I believe other characters (among those that Doflamingo presented in his Throne Wars speech) need to score as well.
Currently Luffy is the only one with any achievements towards Pirate King. In order to become Pirate King one absolutely needs the 4 Road Poneglyphs and Luffy will have three of them after Wano, which means he will be three times closer to PK than Mom and Kaido. Actually even more than that since he also has the keys to translate them (Robin, Momonosuke, himself).
What did Luffy's rivals achieve? Blackbeard was always one step ahead of Luffy before and during the timeskip, but since then hasn't done anything noteworthy, his attack against the Revos didn't affect them much apparently. The others? Urouge defeated Snack and that's it. Kidd? Rotting in a prison. Bege? His assassination attempt failed. Others have already insubordinated themselves (Drake, Apoo).
Right now, Luffy is already almost PK and the only reason why this is not noticeable as a reader is because there is still so much story left to be told. However, the closer we get to the end, the more noticeable it becomes unless Oda changes something and makes Luffy's rivals score points for themselves. Which I am sure he will since that was the case in preskip One Piece as evidenced by Buggy's, Blackbeard's and Smoker's progression.

I mean i can agree with you, but who would be able to defeat Big mom though? it would take another Yonko or Admirals to take her down.

 

[strawhatcrew]

I mean i can agree with you, but who would be able to defeat Big mom though? it would take another Yonko or Admirals to take her down.

No one can except the emperor itself and marine admiral. But i dont think BB or shanks will come and intercept her. Shanks is at marijoe and we dont know where BB is now. Also they dont have any reason to stop BM. Marine is busy now with reverie. And akainu doesnt want to involve in wano bcoz its not in WG jurisdiction.

Also, i dont think Kaidou and BM will work together to defeat strawhatcrew. They are too proud, selfish, hothead to ally just to defeat mere supernova. And they didnt acknowleged that luffy is currently one of the emperor. Kaidou think luffy is just some small time pirate playing pirate game. But, BM is serious to kill luffy now after luffy embarassed her at WCI.

 

[McNuss]

She might want it back. Do you have a link please ? (What's SBS ?)

SBS means (質問を募集する Shitsumon o Boshū Suru?, "I'm Taking Questions"), comparable to QA or AMA in english. SBS is the fanpost pages in the manga volumes. Oda reveals alot of details about the story in these, you should definitely read them.

You can find them here: http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/SBS.

 

[GreenGan]

SBS means (質問を募集する Shitsumon o Boshū Suru?, "I'm Taking Questions"), comparable to QA or AMA in english. SBS is the fanpost pages in the manga volumes. Oda reveals alot of details about the story in these, you should definitely read them.

You can find them here: http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/SBS.

Aaaah ! I didn't read the last ones, thank you very much !

 

[Franz]

The risk that Wa will reveal a Dressrosa 2.0 is high, I hope that Oda does not want to throw too much stuff into that arc .....

 

[Fox666]

Since it has been compared to Marineford, I think it's safe to assume Wano arc will be fast paced.

 

[ThatOtherGuy]

The risk that Wa will reveal a Dressrosa 2.0 is high

Why? I don't see it.

 

[McNuss]

Since it has been compared to Marineford, I think it's safe to assume Wano arc will be fast paced.

It was said that Marineford would pale in comparison. That means Wano will be a lot bigger. With all the characters involved, there is no way it is going to be a short arc. X. Drake requires a flashback to explain his motivations. Kidd was given way to much paneltime for not playing a big role in Wano (though don't get to hyped, his story is the story of failure). Aside from those two, even more Supernovae will be in Wano (Apoo confirmed). On top of that there will likely be extensive history stuff featuring the Kozuki clan and the poneglyphs. We will likely get the background on the Voice of all Things in Wano. And most importantly, the Straw Hats will be assembled in full force, including their Ally Trafalgar Law, who is also a Worst Generation member and a D.

Add to that that Wano is Japan.

The risk that Wa will reveal a Dressrosa 2.0 is high, I hope that Oda does not want to throw too much stuff into that arc .....

I expect Wano arc to last three years and to best Dressrosa in total chapter lenght. Oda will wrap up many things in this arc. We are nearing the end of One Piece, I expect three years for Wano and than two to four years for the rest.

 

[Franz]

Why? I don't see it.

Too many subplots. Too many characters.

With the risk that some will receive more in-depth analysis of others and others will be put there just to make a number.

Example ? Dressrosa. Destroy the factory, save the country, save the dwarves, manage the guys of the Colosseum, recover Caesar, run away from the Big Mom crew, help the Riku family, do something to the Revolutionaries, manage the crew of Barbanera (Burgess), revenge Corazon , with the result of too many characters who created an unmanageable mix.

And we got to points like Doflmaingo that half-dead walks while no one tries to stop him apart from Luffy and they are all busy blocking a cage (even the admiral that should be the strongest in the middle) or the passive management of Fujitora.

 

[McNuss]

And we got to points like Doflmaingo that half-dead walks while no one tries to stop him apart from Luffy and they are all busy blocking a cage (even the admiral that should be the strongest in the middle) or the passive management of Fujitora.

You do realize that Fujitora stayed passive on purpose? Many people get Fujitora's character completely wrong and think of him as a stronger Smoker. That's just wrong. Fujitora is a madman who gouged out his own eyes and gambled with the lives of an entire country just to prove a point.

Apart from Fujitora there's only two people that got a chance against Doflamingo, even in his injured state. Sabo was busy with Burgess and Zoro never interferes with Luffy's fights.

I don't think Wano will be like Dressrosa. In Dressrosa, many of the characters existed for the sake of world building. For example, it was unlikely that a King (Elizabello) would go to another country alone. That's why Dagama exists. Ganbia exists because a crew of a 100mil+ captain should have at least another decent fighter, same with Suleiman who joins Cavendish. Abdullah, Jeet and Gilly exist just so that Ideo could form a martial arts based pirate crew. Tank Lepanto exists just to show that the Royal Soldiers are still loyal to their King. Koala exists so that Sabo can have a girlfriend, things like that always sell well. And so on and on. Oda went completely overboard with the Dwarves though because Green Bit was supposed to be it's own arc.

This isn't just true for Dressrosa, Marineford and WCI are two other great examples of Characters that just exist to make the world consistent.

In Wano however, we won't have that exact same scenario because all the characters on Luffy's side that exists just for worldbuilding have already been introduced to us - The unimportant Whitebeard commanders in Marineford, the unimportant Minks like Rody or BB in Zou. There won't be any need to create a Tournament first to showcase their abilities for example, because we already know them.

In general the Tournament theme of Dressrosa (the entire island is shaped like an arena) was what made Dressrosa feel chaotic. Everyone was running around from A to B to C... but many didn't do much aside from running. Wano, from what we heard so far, must be a very large island, large enough to be distributed among several Daimyos. This allows Oda to split up the characters and offscreen those that don't do anything currently.

 

[Franz]

You do realize that Fujitora stayed passive on purpose?

It does not justify its passive management.

And if not anyone with decent strength could pull Dofy in that stadium.


Does it make sense to you that an admiral merely stops a wire cage?

I don't think Wano will be like Dressrosa. In Dressrosa, many of the characters existed for the sake of world building. For example, it was unlikely that a King (Elizabello) would go to another country alone. That's why Dagama exists. Ganbia exists because a crew of a 100mil+ captain should have at least another decent fighter, same with Suleiman who joins Cavendish. Abdullah, Jeet and Gilly exist just so that Ideo could form a martial arts based pirate crew. Tank Lepanto exists just to show that the Royal Soldiers are still loyal to their King. Koala exists so that Sabo can have a girlfriend, things like that always sell well. And so on and on. Oda went completely overboard with the Dwarves though because Green Bit was supposed to be it's own arc.

The characters should not be for having a sense, but to play a role.

If not, decide, do you want Dressrosa to be the story of Law's revenge? Of the meeting of Luffy and Sabo? Of the redemption of the RIku? Choose one or two subplots, not ten thousand that complicate the narration and re-enter the whole difficult and complicated to manage, with the risk that many characters in fact ended by making the number.


Wa would be the same. the size of characters convoluted is already remarkable, let us also the Navy and Big Mom ....

 

[ThatOtherGuy]

Too many subplots. Too many characters.

With the risk that some will receive more in-depth analysis of others and others will be put there just to make a number.

Example ? Dressrosa. Destroy the factory, save the country, save the dwarves, manage the guys of the Colosseum, recover Caesar, run away from the Big Mom crew, help the Riku family, do something to the Revolutionaries, manage the crew of Barbanera (Burgess), revenge Corazon , with the result of too many characters who created an unmanageable mix.

And we got to points like Doflmaingo that half-dead walks while no one tries to stop him apart from Luffy and they are all busy blocking a cage (even the admiral that should be the strongest in the middle) or the passive management of Fujitora.

Birdcage was admitedly a boring concept. Everything else you just mentioned is just you either not understanding a particular character, or the necessity for their presence on Dressrosa given the initial events of the arc. (Mera, Coloseum, etc...)

The characters should not be for having a sense, but to play a role.

This right here is just false.