第165回：Luffy’s Voice

Luffy’s voice managing to reach Momonosuke is a potential first step towards a development I’ve spent years postulating, even before I began this column, all the way back in Sabaody Archipelago. My idea began with Rayleigh’s mention of ‘The Voice of All Things’ and Roger’s inability to read the Poneglyph, yet somehow understand *and* respond to the writing. I imagined that Roger was able to hear the voices of those who lived in the past. Tis ultimately proved to be at least partially incorrect as we learned that it was in fact Oden who was able to do the deciphering, however, in concept this theory is still alive and well due to Roger’s ability to ‘hear’ the voices of Sea Kings which Luffy also displayed the ability to do.

Luffy’s level of ambition (not sure which one, and perhaps maybe even a blend) seems to allow him to convey and link his thoughts to Momonosuke as if Momonosuke is a radio receiver. What if this is similar to how Luffy started out with Conqueror’s Haki and one day he’ll be able to communicate with more and more people?

I mean, that’s certainly one way to ‘connect everyone’ and incite a world-wide revolution is a world with limited technology like this one.

I’ve even been wondering if this is how transponder snails communicate. If so, that means all of those little buggers are potentially god-level haki users! ^O^

Speaking of voices and connections, while ONE PIECE is still a fantastic world where Devil Fruit powers and iron wills often make the impossible, possible for our cast, there would seem to be an unprecedented number of deaths in the Wano arc from Yasuie to the growing list of Akazaya members. Odacchi tends to veer away from featuring death for both villains and heroes, but he tends to bend that policy when a hero dies without regrets which is exactly how he’s handled the samurai deaths.

So let’s get it out in the open, yes, there could be some remarkable explanation for the Akazaya to pull through this. But…what if they *don’t*?

While some of them seem to have completed their arcs, I cannot see Chapter 1015 being the end of Kin’emon’s story. The poor man didn’t even get to reunite with his wife. Yet, if we witnessed his death at Kaido’s hands, then that would mean the end of his tale…or would it?

The Fire Festival is a festival for the souls of the dead. While ONE PIECE eschews many fantastic elements, we know for a *fact* that souls *and* an afterlife of sorts exists thanks to the existence of Brook. What if hearing the ‘voice of all things’ isn’t limited to living things, but also the souls of those who previously lived? (I mean, it’s not the ‘voice of all living things’, right?) And on a night when a nation is celebrating those souls with a massive festival, I find it hard to believe that those souls will sit idly by when their people are in trouble.

I guess what I’m suggesting is, even if characters like Yasuie and Kin’emon are dead, this may not be the end of their role in the story. And if this turns out to be true, it could also help explain a certain unique and mysterious series of techniques that Luffy has been employing for years now.