第181回：Cloning Around

My jaw fell through the floor when I read that name box. Whatta reveal! During Whole Cake Island we learned that Stussy, the so-called Queen of the *ahem* Entertainment Districts, is in fact a lethal secret agent for the World Government’s CP-0 squad. *Now* it’s been revealed that not only is Stussy something of a double agent, she’s also the clone of…Buckin?! WHAT?! Who, by the way…WAS A MEMBER OF THE ROCKS PIRATES AND PROBABLY MADS TOO?!

It’s clear now that Stussy’s antagonistic nonchalance during Kaku’s attempts to invade the Labophase weren’t simply an amusing quirk or something Stussy has against giraffes. (Remember she drank the giraffe juice at Whole Cake Island as part of a gag on ‘Kirin’ (giraffe) brand beer) Her silence during CP-0’s advances were in fact part of a cloaked strategy that allowed the island’s various defenses to soften up her fellow squad member, without lifting a finger.


But besides being a clone, what *is* Stussy? Other than being a clone, she appears to be able to transform into a succubus. It doesn’t seem likely that she tucks in those wings, so while saying they’re part of a transformation and not part of (or grafted onto) her body is an assumption, it’s one I’m willing to take. If we’re talking about transformations, then another fairly safe assumption would be that it’s Devil Fruit-derived, but what could it be? Has she tampered with the form of a natural Zoan like Black Maria? Or is she an actual mythical succubus Zoan? Pretty hard to tell at this point! Her wings do seem similarly structured to Odacchi’s Golden Bat design from Strong World, however, Kaku’s near-instantaneous loss of consciousness suggests more of a mythical origin. My bets right now would be either a blood-draining vampire bat Zoan or a mythical succubus Zoan.

And how about Buckin?! What does this mean for her?! It seems that the mysterious woman glimpsed on the cover of Chapter 1070 wasn’t Stussy herself, but a younger Buckin! After her role in the Rocks Pirates, she joined MADS and pursued…what exactly? This chapter’s cover shows us MADS working on polishing skills they would pursue in the future.

Queen > Chemical weapons
Judge > Weaponry
Caesar > Devil Fruit Manipulation

But what about Buckin? Is it possible that her experimentation focused on…cloning?

It’s clear that each of the scientists shared or (at worst) stole from each other, and since we don’t see Judge focusing on cloning despite owning an actual clone *army*, it’s possible that he used Buckin’s research to achieve his goals for Germa 66. Buckin’s proximity to Weevil also raises plenty of questions about Weevil’s origins since she would have associated with Edward Newgate during their time in the Rocks Pirates. Is Weevil a clone of Whitebeard that Buckin couldn’t perfect because of a lack of funds? If so, if Weevil lost all that bulk, would he…somehow…be identical to Edward Newgate?! Or is Weevil an honest to goodness legitimate son of Whitebeard; part of the family Newgate longed for?!

With nothing to go on for years except a lofty-sounding title, we finally have a name for one of the Five Stars: Jaygarcia Saturn. But with that killer facial hair, the inspiration behind the name is crystal clear, Gerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Could other members share names with musical artists? Kincole? Framappa? Jolenon?! Or maybe leaders in other fields of entertainment? Stevelberg? Eddurphy? Jachan?!

One Piece translator Stephen Paul keyed me into to a clever trick by Odacchi in naming the ONE PIECE world’s version of the Nobel Prize. イベル as it’s written is ‘iberu’ or ‘Ibel’ but the first character イ is composed of two strokes that could be broken apart into a ノ and sideways ー. Line these up properly and you have ノーベル or literally, ‘Nobel’!