Discussion Luffy's message to his nakama

[Darkever]

Chapter 594 just came out... the main question is:

What the hell did Luffy wanted to say to his nakama with those actions???

Unless it's something that happened offscreen, which would be kinda lame, even readers should be able to make a guess... yet I have absolutely no idea on what the message could be. It's probably some directions to meet, but I really don't know where to start. Well, One Piece is great even because of these things.

The relevant actions that Luffy did were:
- he returned to Marineford, the place where he lost his brother.
- he was with an ex-member of the world's strongest crew and an ex-shichibukai.
- he has a new tatoo that's probably very similar to Ace's.
- he circled Marineford 3 times.
- he stepped in the plaza alone.
- he rang the western ox bell 16 times (I don't know anything about the bell, except what Killer explained).
- he thrown flowers on the battlefield.
- he made that pose and silently prays.
- he went back just after that.

Anyone has any idea? I may also be some kind of word or japanese pun, in that case I doubt we will ever get it...

 

[fullmoon]

If u r asking about what the exact message is then i have no idea.
I just stick with its a change of meeting location for all the SH and now Luffy, Jinbei and Rayleigh is on their way to take the Thousand Sunny.
Kuma might being completely controlled by now and there will be a fight there.

 

[kkck]

I think he meant for the message to change the meeting place of the strawhats. the second their whereabouts are revealed they are sure to get high level marines on their asses due to the noble and war incidents. Assuming they are overly lucky, they would at the very least get a VA (who'd still beat the crap out of the lot of them) and the most reasonable scenario is that they get an admiral backed up with pacifista.

 

[bittman]

Well I'm spearheading the notion that, since the bell is used to signify the new year, that Luffy is actually trying to tell his crew to meet up in the new year.

Rather than recklessly returning at all personal costs (see Zoro, Ussop and Sanji's wounds) or returning to wait around and be potentially attacked (seeing as Robin, even at full steam, appears quite some distance away), Luffy sets a date in the future for them to meet once again.

The reason I think it must be a time and not a place is that, if it was just a place, Rayleigh would just grab his Vivre card and sit somewhere easy to find. And by showing Rayleigh in the newspaper, it reaffirms the fact that the Vivre Card should be the "meeting point", regardless of it's location.

The New Year, since we haven't seen one yet and the timing is apparantly "off", could be anything between 1 week away and 9 months away. This theory also then looks into the potential "timeskip" Oda was looking to.

If it's not the "New Year", my back up theory is Luffy's 18th birthday. 18 = adulthood = new year = new era all in one happy basket. Presuming they all actually know Luffy's birthday (enormous question mark here), it would make more sense than the 1st day of the 1st month of a new year.

 

[elitefox]

Well I'm spearheading the notion that, since the bell is used to signify the new year, that Luffy is actually trying to tell his crew to meet up in the new year.

Rather than recklessly returning at all personal costs (see Zoro, Ussop and Sanji's wounds) or returning to wait around and be potentially attacked (seeing as Robin, even at full steam, appears quite some distance away), Luffy sets a date in the future for them to meet once again.

The reason I think it must be a time and not a place is that, if it was just a place, Rayleigh would just grab his Vivre card and sit somewhere easy to find. And by showing Rayleigh in the newspaper, it reaffirms the fact that the Vivre Card should be the "meeting point", regardless of it's location.

The New Year, since we haven't seen one yet and the timing is apparantly "off", could be anything between 1 week away and 9 months away. This theory also then looks into the potential "timeskip" Oda was looking to.

If it's not the "New Year", my back up theory is Luffy's 18th birthday. 18 = adulthood = new year = new era all in one happy basket. Presuming they all actually know Luffy's birthday (enormous question mark here), it would make more sense than the 1st day of the 1st month of a new year.

Wow excellent deduction


18th birthday of Luffy
The beginning of the end

I hope they know Luffy's birthday though <.< but if all SH know then I can think of one who doesn't know Luffy's birthday

which is dan dan dan... Zoro

 

[Poisok2]

Well I'm spearheading the notion that, since the bell is used to signify the new year, that Luffy is actually trying to tell his crew to meet up in the new year.

Rather than recklessly returning at all personal costs (see Zoro, Ussop and Sanji's wounds) or returning to wait around and be potentially attacked (seeing as Robin, even at full steam, appears quite some distance away), Luffy sets a date in the future for them to meet once again.

The reason I think it must be a time and not a place is that, if it was just a place, Rayleigh would just grab his Vivre card and sit somewhere easy to find. And by showing Rayleigh in the newspaper, it reaffirms the fact that the Vivre Card should be the "meeting point", regardless of it's location.

The New Year, since we haven't seen one yet and the timing is apparantly "off", could be anything between 1 week away and 9 months away. This theory also then looks into the potential "timeskip" Oda was looking to.

If it's not the "New Year", my back up theory is Luffy's 18th birthday. 18 = adulthood = new year = new era all in one happy basket. Presuming they all actually know Luffy's birthday (enormous question mark here), it would make more sense than the 1st day of the 1st month of a new year.

Wow. I had the very same idea. Though it's hard to explain why they should arrenge a time for their meeting, the Luffy's birthday theory could explain the "last adventure as a 17 year old"...

 

[Fox666]

Luffy's birthday is on may 5 (children's day). He was supposed to have left his villlage when he turned 17, so the "last adventure as 17" thing would make the series time placement 1 year.

 

[kkck]

There might be a time involved in this but I doubt it has anything to do with luffy's birthday. For one thing, the whole thing seems to be raileghts idea. For another, according to what we saw before, raileight wanted to avoid the strawhats meeting in SA so that they could avoid meeting the same fate as last time.

 

[Soka]

In my opinion its the tat. with the message :
No (SP is crossed out) Strawhat Pirates 2 Years - SP2Y

Think about it:
-As it seems the monkeys are still a big match for zorro because he cant hold the newspaper by himself yet also hes far from beeing a swordsman on Rayleighs level therefore a little bit training with Mihawks pets would be helpfull.

-Same goes for Sanji who got easily beaten off panel by Iva. Additionally some kind of abstinence from women could work on him like on a monk in a monastery

- I dont see a way how Ussop could leave his island and get thin again without a time skip other than Chopper picking him up

- Franky would have enough time to study Vegapunks work and he could rebuild himself based on it

- Brooke could go on tour with the longarm tribe

- Robin could stay with the revolutionaries

- Chopper (for whom its most unfitting to spend 2 years alone) could meet up with Zorro so he could treat his wounds while hes training

- Same goes for Nami i'd think she'd meet up with someone maybe with Vivi because of her new rain-bringing tactics.

Even other chars like Corby would benefit from a time skip especially cause we now know he has haki so the next time we see him could be in a vice admrial postion.

The main facts for assuming that there will be a time skip are:

- Oda is a huge dbz fan and hands down someone who loves drawing as much as him wont resist to give some sort of change to its main chars.

- Rayleigh plotting with Kuma wont have the goal to end them to islands they leave immideatly. Ray will have told Luffy where they are and why and that they are healthy. Remember Ray warned Luffy that it would end like on SA when they gather up now so the plan is to let some time pass while they all take a training session ( at least the monster trio + Ussop.)

 

[kkck]

Actually, that is not a bad idea.... The bells could mean the strawhats are not to mean as soon as possible but rather a specific amount of time so that they could get stronger. They'd still meet in SA a while from now but they would take their time to get stronger and avoid getting beat up like before. I'd think luffy meant for his crew to meet a year from now rather than two though.

 

[k-dom]

I don't think it is a date. We know that Luffy wants to see his crew as soon as possible that is the thing that gave him the spirit to come back. I don't think he can wait several monthes. Also most of the 594 chapter has been about the new world so the Strawhat have to get their soon. Do you think that Smoker would go to G5 and wait for the Strawhat half a year ? To me this chapter is a teasing for New World and we know that Oda has increased the pace of the war to reach it as soon as possible.
For the place, the only thing that the Strawhat have to navigate is the vivre card, they can not relate on log pose or anything else. So they are going to where Shakky is. That's what is still the mystery to me, Shakky is waiting on the Thousand Sunny in Saobady which looks like a dangerous place to meet. But maybe they waited until Rayleigh plan starts in case some of the Strawhat came back before that.

 

[fullmoon]

In my opinion its the tat. with the message :
No (SP is crossed out) Strawhat Pirates 2 Years - SP2Y
...

I think if that is the message then the reaction of all SH must be all the "Why?" "No!" "I don't wanna" and uneasy faces not all that "Roger!!" and smiling and understanding since 2 yrs is not gonna be short.
Also I doubt Luffy would agree to wait that long after he practically cried out loud how much he want to meet his crew. About training, I agree he need some but Luffy's adventure is his training since the beginning so I think just some guide in using Haki is enough. The boy will figure out how to utilize it himself later, 2 yrs is overkill.
All the SN is in NW now, too. And SH have reached the door of NW, clearly the main battle field from now on, and they not gonna get in?
Like that gonna happen?!
Its also why I don't think the message is smt that will involve anymore delaying on time but a change of location instead. It will be faster and still assure their safety. They have stayed at this place long enough

 

[jourrel]

hmmm.

i think that the 16 bells there means luffy's crew. Maybe it tells them that the 8 of them(the crew that was separated) that they are going soon to new world hence the other 8 bells.

Maybe it's a date too like March(he circled the marineford 3 times) 16 (the times he rang the bell)

 

[Deo_df]

nah 16 represents which island number to go to on shabondy

 

[gao_dargon]

i think the one year wating is a very good theory, what i came up with was that new year = new world, so he was telling them to meet in the new world, but now that you said the one year wait, im not sure on my theory, i mean Oda did say that this was Luffy's last adventure as a 17y/o so it makes sence

 

[Soka]

I think if that is the message then the reaction of all SH must be all the "Why?" "No!" "I don't wanna" and uneasy faces not all that "Roger!!" and smiling and understanding since 2 yrs is not gonna be short.

Thats what confused me too ^^
But it would explain Namis reaction that Luffy acts selfish.
And remember what Luffys main thought was when he realied how much he needs and misses his nakama: "I am weak"
Maybe he and the others realise that this is the only way and therefore they accept it.
Especially Robin know what it means to be hunted and to hide.
Btw - Ussop and Chopper have tears running out there eyes

 

[kkck]

nah 16 represents which island number to go to on shabondy

Why would luffy send a message like that. If luffy wants to meet his crew in the 16th island all he has to do is get there and let the vivre card do its job. In other words, there is no need for luffy to do such a thing if he just intents to meet his crew at the SA. Whatever luffy did ONLY makes sense assuming he intents to altogether avoid in some form or another the SA.

 

[Uriel]

So as was said, I'll discount the "place" theory since Vivre Card works for that.

I doubt it's a date because was Luffy himself who wnated to see their nakamas and I doubt their nakamas after this long would want to see him later. More when it's not a real danger to meet right now.

So my bet is that Luffy wanted to say something else. What? I don't know. But I doubt it's a date or a place, it's something that goes further than that.

 

[kkck]

The place theory can't be discounted... The vivre card the strawhats have all leave towards shakky at the SA. In that sense, the message should involve altogether a change in place and probably in timing.

 

[Ratatosk]

I don't think the tattoo is an important part of the message; we can't read it so why the hell should they be able to? Too much depends on the whims of photographers. It's impressively mind-boggling, one of us must have it right as it can't be too cunning or Chopper/Zoro wouldn't get it, it can't be something based on a shared experience like the bell of Shandia because Brooke hasn't been with them long enough, but it can't be something that someone else who knows Luffy well but hasn't sailed with them, like Coby or Garp, would get either.
I'd love to know if the bell/ sailing round the island as a memorial thing is based on a maritime tradition though, anyone know?

Also if Rayleigh remotely wants them to survive he wouldn't encourage them to all make their way to the New World on their own, from what we've seen. splitting up and running in different directions resulted in disaster last time.

Most important, as other people said, Luffy really wants to see his crew. he's not going to wait 2 years..

Change in place would be easy, they just have to move either Rayleigh or the other half of the paper, whichever the Vivre Card points to, to some obscure hiding place and wait; so it can't be that. And we've never seen the Strawhats show any interest in birthdays, despite any excuse for a celebration, and they've been sailing long enough that at least one crewmember should have had one. Nami for one couldn't possibly know what day she was born, unless she counts the day Bellemere adopted her. Unless it's a japanese culture thing that I've missed that people are assumed to know each other's birthdays, it won't be that.

I think for other reasons they will meet up soon and go to Fishman Island: the story has been in relentless crisis-mode ever since they split up, and in the past Oda let them have some fun between the more serious arcs, like the Davy Back fight and Thriller Bark. Camie and Hacchi, who must be in on the plan, were clearly discussing what they'd do when they got there.