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Introduction
Oda’s writing seems to be influenced by a lot of different sources such as Greek epic tales, various religions’ stories and so on. His strength as an author, surely comes from this culture and his talent to incorporate it and transform it to make his own story.
Oda will always derive from the original source, and this makes it all the more complicated to predict what he envisioned. But one thing for certain, he likes to mirror what he already narrated.
Below is an attempt to interpret his influences, by regrouping some fan theories and my own researches. This post won't explain everything but a fragment of it.
Aubade, a romance dawn
Above is the definition of Aubade, a term used by Brook for one of his attacks*. This word echoes strangely with Romance Dawn, a title used on one or two occasions by Oda. This, I believe, is the key theme to understand what’s going on at the very core of the story : Somewhere in the plot, is the story of the lovers’ parting, repeated every night and renewed by the dawn.
In lots of cultures, the Sun and the Moon are lovers who never meet because of the succession of night and day, at the exception maybe of an eclipse in which the two celestial bodies can face each other. The Sun is oftenly portrayed as a male figure, whereas the Moon is often a woman.
Quite recently we learned about Nika, the Sun god, so a tempting prediction could be made that a Moon god exists too. Nika is depicted as joyous, energetic and free; could the Moon god be taciturn, cold and methodical ?
The romance dawn and the aubade refer both to the love story between these two gods. Each night they would meet and part at dawn, but one night the Sun god couldn’t make it or did something wrong and the Moon god took it as an offense and refused to approach him since, breaking the cycle of the dawn. But a third party provoked this situation to benefit from the eternal night.
*Brook is also known for Binks’ Sake, a pirate song in which some interesting themes are evoked like storms, the sun and the moon. (https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Binks'_Sake)
Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo
In Japanese mythology, the three gods (kami) mentioned above are linked to the Sun-Moon theme.
Izanagi and Izanami created the islands and gods, but one day Izanami died from birthing a fire god. Izanagi descended in Hell to retrieve her but fled from the horror she became. A pure god shouldn’t feel disgust or fear and so, to purify himself, created from his left eye Amaterasu the Sun god, from his right eye Tsukuyomi the Moon god, and from his nose Susanoo the storm god.*
These are the interesting parts of the myth:
- Tsukuyomi’s name references the way in which the moon was used to mark the passage of time. That’s why, some think his powers could affect time itself. Tsukuyomi is depicted as beautiful and strict, like “I can kill you, strict”.
- Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi were married lovers but separated.
- One day, Amaterasu left Tsukuyomi because he allegedly killed a god from disgust at a banquet. (In different sources, it’s interesting to note that Susanoo killed the god). And this is the origin of the day and night successions.
- Susanoo is an instable god, violent at that and was banned from the celestial kingdom to roam on earth. Jealous of Amaterasu, he tricked her and by doing so, caused her inconsolable retreat in the celestial cave (sometimes interpreted as an eclipse). Thus, creating the eternal night.
- Uzume, a minor god, was the only one who tricked Amaterasu out of her cave by doing a dance so ridiculous that each and every god laughed, picking Amaterasu’s curiosity and the reappearance of the dawn : A laugh tale?
Tsukuyomi in One Piece would be Im, an immortal Moon god capable of controlling the passage of time. She loved Nika, the equivalent of Amaterasu, but felt betrayed by him for some reason. Knowing or not, that he reincarnates every time in human form.
I suspect that the Tenryubito willingly benefit from a misunderstanding between the two gods. And in consequence, benefit from the immortality given by Im and living by her side.
Susanoo here would be Blackbeard or Rocks, a god who roams the earth by possessing human vessels and seeking chaos. He was banned from Nika’s realm.
*If Yuderon’s theory is correct, Jaya island replicates Izanagi’s face. Then Shandia represents Amaterasu, the hole represents Tsukuyomi and maybe the sacrificial altar symbolizes Susanoo?
Aeneas’ descent in Hell (Enies Lobby, MarineFord and Impel… Dawn ?)
Interestingly, very few mentions or depictions of the sun are found in One Piece. A notable one is the Eve Sunlight Tree, another is the Sun visibly drawn when Shirahoshi looks at it for the first time or the arrival of the dawn in Thriller Bark.
Two others also drawn my attention: the three Marines locations Marineford, Enies Lobby and Impel Down/Dawn and the SBS below.
SBS Chapter 55, Page 46
From this extract two ideas emerged:
One, Sanji’s fire power come from this energy, equally possessed by Lunarians.
Two, if during an eclipse, the three celestial bodies stop moving then it’s an eternal night and tidal waves would cause chaos. One and only one person would benefit from this situation: Blackbeard. His darkness fruit would peek during an eternal night and those waves could be amplified by the gura gura no mi.
Blackbeard, who I suspect is possessed by a Susanoo-like figure, is inevitably seeking for this opportunity to destroy the world.
Marineford, Enies Lobby and Impel Down
Seen from above, Marineford looks like a crescent moon, Impel Down looks like a sun and Enies Lobby* looks like an eclipse that reunites both. I think this 3 steps illustration has a major role to play in the climax of One Piece.
Now, Enies Lobby is a reference to the greek myth in which Aeneas stands in front of Hell’s entrance. He then visits it to seek his dead father for guidance and exits by choosing the right door.
What’s interesting:
- Aeneas is a demigod, a kind of god in a mortal body.
- In Impel Down arc, Luffy visited a hell-like place and escaped from it.
Just like Aeneas, Luffy has a mortal body and is the incarnation of a god, the Sun god Nika. Again, he will have to enter Hell to retrieve someone’s soul but this time, it will really be in the Underworld (Yomi). I think this will only be possible during an eclipse during which Blackbeard will wreak havoc on earth. (Amaterasu fled from Susanoo by hiding in the Celestial Cave, sometimes interpreted as an eclipse)
The awaiting of the eclipse would explain why Roger knew he was 20 years too early.
*If Enies lobby is in eternal day, then eternal night must occur below it. Is Enies Lobby the Yomi entrance?