Nearly three decades have passed since Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began to be serialized in Shonen Jump, and it’s safe to say the series has come a long way from its humble beginnings. With over 1000 manga chapters and anime episodes, One Piece is a true epic filled with diverse characters and rich history of lore for fans to sink their teeth into. A series this large is bound to have several mysteries left to resolve and if there’s one thing One Piece fans love, it’s developing theories for the things still left unexplained.
Now that One Piece has officially entered its Final Saga, characters introduced long ago are becoming main players in the Straw Hats’ adventures and things long speculated, like the true nature of Luffy’s devil fruit, are being revealed. It’s an exciting time to be a fan of the series, but even with so many new revelations, there’s just as many mysteries left to be answered. Listing every unsolved mystery in One Piece would be at least the size of small book, but here are 10 that stand out among the many.
10. Who exactly was Joy Boy?
While the Straw Hats were on Fish Man Island, Robin came across a Poneglyph written by the mysterious Joy Boy, apologizing for being unable to fulfill a promise 800 years in ago. Since that first mention, we’ve learned a little more about Joy Boy but we still don’t know exactly who he was, why he was so important, or why the World Government is suppressing knowledge of his existence. Zunesha mentions he hears him when Luffy’s heartbeat sounds the Drums of Liberation, and its heavily implied Joy Boy had also eaten the Nika fruit in his time. As the Final Saga continues, we hope to find out more about the original Joy Boy’s history and why he was so influential.
9. What happened during the Void Century?
Speaking of Joy Boy and 800 years ago, what happened during the Void Century? The World Government prohibits anyone speaking of the Void Century and trying to learn the true history of the world is a crime punishable by death. Whole nations have been completely destroyed because some of their residents dared to study the Void Century. Whatever happened during that 100 year gap in history must be so threatening to the World Government that they felt the need to methodically erase any mention of that time period from every book and publication in the world. Finally finding out what happened during the Void Century is key to answering many of One Piece’s biggest mysteries, like why the Great Kingdom was destroyed or what crime Zunesha committed that resulted in a punishment of walking for so many centuries.
8. Who is Imu?
We know that Imu is the real leader of the World Government, the only character who dares to sit on the Empty Throne. Apart from the rest of the world, only the Five Elders officially know of Imu’s existence, but other than the fact that Imu is the true ruler of the world, little else is known of the mysterious figure. While there are theories Imu is an immortal who gained eternal life from the Op-Op fruit and is one of the rulers who first created the World Government 800 years ago, none of this has been confirmed. Imu’s identity is so shrouded in secrecy that seeing him usually means your death is imminent — when Sabo learned of his existence, Imu destroyed the entire island of Lunasia rather than risk people finding out he exists — so it’s obvious he’s an antagonist worth fearing.
7. What are the Five Elder’s Devil Fruits?
While they were first introduced years prior, the names of the Five Elders were only revealed recently. We now know their names and their titles but we still don’t know what Devil Fruits they have consumed, if any. It has been implied in the manga that the Five Elders have powers but we don’t even know if those abilities are granted via Devil Fruit, Imu, or something else. The Five Elders are the official leaders of the World Government (though we know they actually answer to Imu in secret), so it’s sensible that they would have some strong Devil Fruits in their arsenal. The most popular theory is that the Five Elders have all consumed mythical Zoan fruits because they appear to become almost monster-like in silhouette during their confrontation with Cobra.
6. Why does Zoro have a scar over his eye?
After the time skip, Zoro noticeably has a new scar over his left eye which has remained closed ever since. The implication is that Zoro lost his eye during his training with Mihawk but surprisingly, no character has ever asked Zoro what happened nor has Zoro ever explained. Theories abound as to why Zoro’s eye was injured, from the simple to the absurd (no, we don’t think Zoro’s hiding a Sharingan under there). Given Zoro’s inclination toward harming himself during battles — the guy has really intended on cutting off his own leg before — it’s entirely possible the injury could even be self-inflicted. It’s been over ten years since Zoro was revealed to have this scar, so we don’t know if the mystery will ever be solved.
5. What’s the deal with Shanks?
Shanks inspires Luffy to become a pirate, saves Luffy from a giant fish (losing his arm in the process), gives him his straw hat, and then for all intents and purposes disappears. Yes, we’ve seen snippets of what Shanks has been up to in the years since he left Luffy his straw hat, and we know he’s insanely powerful which makes him even more of an enigma; I mean, did you see how he just one shot Kid on Elbaf? We have yet to find out just why Shanks is so powerful and why he had the Gum Gum/Nika fruit in the first place. If he does have a Celestial Dragon background like we’ve seen in One Piece Film: Red, does that mean that was actually him talking to the Five Elders? Every time Shanks appears, we have more questions than we have answers.
4. Why can Blackbeard have multiple devil fruits at once?
When a person who has already consumed one Devil Fruit eats another, the two devils will battle inside that person until they explode. So why is it that Blackbeard was able to eat both the Dark Dark Fruit and the Quake Quake Fruit without dying? After Whitebeard’s death, Blackbeard was somehow able to acquire his former father figure’s fruit without suffering any visible consequences, but we still don’t know how he did it. There’s theories — some think Blackbeard had already eaten a Devil Fruit giving him the ability to use more Devil Fruits than normal or that he has multiple souls inside him — but the fact remains we still have no clue how he’s able to do this when others would die.
3. Who is the man marked by flames?
The man marked by flames has been mentioned several times throughout the series and is said to possess the last Road Poneglyph. Whoever he is, he’s a formidable entity said to have a black ship and if anyone gets too close to it, whirlpools appear around the ship and swallow them whole. There are several characters who are candidates for the man marked by flames, but the most popular suspect is Monkey D. Dragon. Dragon fits what little criteria is known about the mysterious man and from what we’ve seen, whirlpools are within his devil fruit’s (likely Wind Wind or something weather-related) abilities. Other popular candidates are Sabo and Jaguar D. Saul but nothing has been confirmed.
2. What is the Will of D?
Those who bear the initial D. in their names are carriers of the Will of D, but we still don’t what exactly that means. The characters with D. in their name are noted to be the Celestial Dragon’s natural enemies, people who bring a “storm” with them wherever go, and people who die with a smile on their face. It is said that killing someone with the Will of D will not truly kill their spirit, as someone will be born who inherits that will. That being said, we still don’t really know what makes people with this initial so different, nor why they’re such a threat to the World Government, but we do know even a character as powerful as Imu fears the Will of D.
1. What is the One Piece?
The original Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, declared he had found the One Piece moments before his execution and started a new age of piracy. Despite the show getting its name from the legendary treasure, the One Piece remains just as much a secret as it did at the beginning of the series. There’s been hints throughout the series — we know Roger and his pirates found it, we know it made them laugh, we know Joyboy is related in some way, and so on — but there’s little information on what’s to be found at Laugh Tale.
While he’s remained appropriately secretive about his series’ biggest treasure, Oda has at least confessed what the One Piece isn’t. In a 2014 interview (via Reddit), Oda shared the One Piece is something tangible and not something like “the journey” or “the friends we made along the way.” Now that the series is in its Final Saga, more and more players are setting their sights on going after the One Piece, but aside from Roger’s crew, no other crew has made it to Laugh Tale in living memory.
