第105回：The Will of D

Check these out! Globes of the One Piece world!? Wow! Although it remains to be seen if these are modern depictions of the world as we know it, these are still a rare glimpse! If they are the modern world, be sure to take them with a grain of salt as they seem to be two opposite views of the Red Line and yet neither depiction seems very close to the globe of the world from the Ohara Library in Chapter 392.

Hey there T-Bone! Glad to see he survived the Paramount War!

Curious design here with a gigantic ship’s bow bearing the World Government symbol. It would seem to be part of the harbor but is that just an aesthetic choice or...is something resting behind that giant wall that conveniently seems to be the size of mast for such a ship?

The sound effect ‘DO-N’ here is a standard for Oda-sensei but I can’t help but feel it has a double meaning here. ‘Don Tacos’ is a popular brand of nacho chips in Japan.

Woah! Attach works for the World Economic Journal!? I thought he worked for the Marines! Is he freelance or has he cut ties with them?

Check his armband for what is likely the logo of the World Economic Journal.

‘LEVERY’? Is that the official spelling for the Japanese version of ‘Reverie’?

Huge moment for Shirahoshi. Look for this to leave an impact on her that will be key to the future of Fishman Island down the line.

At long last, Green Bull. We caught a glimpse of the back of his head in Chapter 801 so combined with this image we can get a pretty good idea of his profile which -along with his laugh- gives us a pretty good hint at the actor who served as the inspiration for his design. Part of Green Bull’s laugh, ‘rahahaha’ read backwards is ‘hara’. This alone doesn’t tell us much, but if you have some time, check out the 1990 film Roningai. You might find yourself saying, “Hey! It’s Kizaru! And Fujitora! And….!!!”

Good to see Garp staying true to character here! His, “Oh forget I said that,” gag from Chapter 432 returns in full force.

Get a load of this Revolutionary! She has a…ROBOTIC ARM! We know that Kuma was a former revolutionary, so have some of Vegapunk’s cyborg enhancement technology trickled down into the Revolutionaries as well?

Well that certainly was a surprise! The world is abuzz with tinfoil hat theories.

A mysterious regal figure opens a facility and reveals to the reader what appears to be the secret ‘treasure’ of the Celestial Dragons, a giant ancient straw hat probably visually identical to Luffy’s.

So why would they seal away this hat and its existence? If their goal was to destroy all memory of the hat, they could just as easily destroy it. No, there’s something they need this hat for so let’s think about what that could be.

Get out your tinfoil hats boys and girls! The hat might have been a giant hint towards the meaning of ‘The Will of D’. Ready? Have a look:

Is ‘D’ a symbol of this straw hat? This would explain how seemingly unrelated families share the ‘name’. So what’s the point of having the name if those who possess it don’t know what it means?

First, it’s been hundreds of years, some family lines may lost the meaning due to family tragedy. One modern example of this would be Law. His father and mother may have known the secret of ‘D’ but they perished before they could pass on the meaning to their offspring.

Garp may know the story which would explain his attitude towards the government -similar to Saul- which would explain his willingness to cooperate with the Marines in order to maintain some semblance of influence and balance in the world. Garp’s son Dragon may have heard the story from his father and that could have been what sparked his interest in leading a revolution.

So why didn’t Luffy hear the story from Garp? Because Garp told his son and look what happened!

How about Roger? Well, Roger is tough to gauge but he seems like a rapscallion on par with Luffy, not a man driven by creating justice and equality. I wonder if the hat was in his family as supporters of ‘D’ but he left home (hat in tow) for adventure. It was only *during* that adventure that he came to learn about the Will of D. Perhaps that’s why he was attracted to Rouge, another D herself. Obviously neither Roger or Rouge could pass the story on to Ace and Garp wouldn’t have been willing to do so either because of the reaction from his son. Incidentally, this could also explain the mutual respect -even as enemies- that Roger and Garp had for each other. They were fighting for the Will of D, just in their own ways.

And of course…Marshall D. Teach, ‘Blackbeard’. SBSs have informed us that if he wasn’t a pirate, Teach would be an archaeologist and that one of his hobbies is researching history. Teach may very well know the secret of D and is going about fulfilling it or destroying it in his own way. Whatever the case may be, as we can tell from their encounter in Mock Town, Teach’s method of going about it will be the polar opposite of Luffy’s approach.

Can we please get Sanji and Eggplant Soldier in a 90’s-style buddy-cop film? Maybe get Rob Schneider as Eggplant Soldier? Have Steve Buscemi dye his hair blonde. Get some prosthetics on Nic Cage for Mont d’Or? THIS CAN WORK, PEOPLE!

It was nice to see Sanji’s desperate return to his sleeping quarters which was all but brushed over in the comic. I wondered how he’d finagle Eggplant into covering for him and it turns out Sanji saved his peel…er, skin from a Mont d’Or who clearly is cranky from lack of sleep.

As revealed in Volume 88’s SBS, Smoothie’s giraffe drink is a pun on a Japanese beer brand, suggesting that the other objects are puns as well.

‘A woman who cut down 100 men’

Huh, sounds like her hands are covered in blood. Do you think there’s a chance her name is Mary? Because then she’d be a…’Bloody Mary’!

‘A molten rock from Mauri Volcano’

Not sure about this one but given the theme of beer and cocktails, this probably alludes to a celebratory drink. I’m not sure if the volcano theme alludes to a specific brand like the giraffe but if it has, it’s beyond me. The closest idea I’ve come up with is the Hawaiian ‘Lave Flow’ cocktail. Oda-sensei traveled to Hawaii during his break before the New World so maybe it left an impression on him!