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Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece chapter #1138.Ever since the early days ofOne Piece, the vast history of the world has been a major part of the setting. Between the mysterious Void Century and how so many conflicts have centuries worth of history to them,One Pieceis very much a story about characters in the present having to fix the mistakes of the past, and it plays into that to an often extreme degree.
History is the cornerstone ofOne Piece’s plot, and never has that been made clearer than with the release ofOne Piecechapter #1138. Chapter #1138 was centered around the Harley, Elbaph’s ancient text describing the island’s myths, and while it’s believed to just be stories in-universe,One Piece’s Harley textis a clear account of the apocalyptic history the world has gone through coupled with ominous foreshadowing for the manga’s final battle. It stands out as one of the biggest chapters in all ofOne Piece, and sure enough, there’s an incredible amount of information to unpack.
What One Piece Just Revealed About The World Before The Void Century
The Beginning Of One Piece’s World Explained
Earlier chapters dropped ominous statements about the world being destroyed twice in the past, andOne Piecechapter #1138finally goes into detail about it. The first portion of the Harley text appropriately describes the “First World”, a point in history that predates the Void Century, and when paired with the mural Franky discovered, it shows mankind being enslaved and harvesting some sort of light-based material from the Earth. It’s not clear what the material is, but the implication is thatthe people ofOne Piece’s First World were enslaved and forced to harvest the Mother Flame to fuel Uranus.
From there, it’s mentioned that “the enslaved prayed, and the sun god appeared”, undoubtedly referencing Nika as an expansion on previous statements of him being a symbol of freedom amongst slaves. Everything after that gets more vague, with the sequence of events appearing to be that Nika fought for freedom until he was either defeated or left and the world was shrouded in darkness by the Earth God and its serpent of hellfire, butthe most common theory about the end ofOne Piece’s First World is that it describes the creation of the Red Line.
What One Piece Just Revealed About The Void Century
Everything We Know About One Piece’s Most Mysterious Era
The “Second World” as described in the Harley text is very clearlythe Void Century, so its information is easier to piece together. The text of the Second World describes Joy Boy’s war against the Ancient Alliance that ultimately failed, with said alliance, minus Alabasta, then founding the World Government and becoming the first Celestial Dragons. It then gives a brief statement about how “the Sea God stormed”, and in all likelihood,the text aboutOne Piece’s Second World references the recent reveal that the World Government flooded the world to destroy massive continents and reduce them to small islands.
One interesting point here is what’s implied aboutthe People of the D.A comment about “those of the half-moon dreamed” likely references the People of the D., as a half-moon resembles the letter “D”, but the fact that moon imagery is being associated with them is interesting when the text also mentions how “those of the moon dreamed”. The implication here seems to be thatthe People of the D. have a connection to those associated with the moon, either the Kozuki family or the ancestors of the Skypieans and Shandians, and hopefully, future chapters will elaborate on that.
More than that, however, is a major reveal about Devil Fruits. The text for the Second World talks about a Forest God taming demons in the same breath as Joy Boy’s war, and as vague as that is,the Harley text is all but stating that Devil Fruits were created during the Void Century, with the Gum-Gum Fruit i.e. the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika likely being one of the first-ever Devil Fruits. Devil Fruits are still one of the biggest mysteries inOne Piece, so just the implication of where they came from is amazing, all on its own.
One Piece Completely Changes Its World With One Subtle Detail
Everything People Thought They Knew About One Piece Has Changed
While the text for the First and Second Worlds covered plenty of major reveals about the past, even they left out a truly massive reveal. While the mural Franky found mostly just expanded on the Harley text and added imagery to its words, one detail in the mural shows the people of the First World living in what looks like a city with modern architecture.One Piecehas plenty of anachronistic details, but it rarely ever shows anything matching the modern day, soOne Pieceis heavily implying that its world was once very similar to real life, technology-wise.
IfOne Piece’s worldwas once like real life, that adds a whole new layer to the current circumstances. It’s one thing forOne Pieceto exist in a post-apocalyptic world, as that was easy enough to guess, but with this reveal in mind,One Piece’s post-apocalyptic world becomes even more terrifying as the backdrop of a modern-day world adds an element of realism to the element of man’s hubris and greed being its downfall. That small detail completely changes the scope ofOne Piece’s history, and it will be amazing to see what else is done with it.
How One Piece Sets Up Its Massive Final Battle
What To Expect From One Piece’s Final Battle
The text of the “Third World” is notably light on details compared to the First and Second Worlds, mostly talking about people hearing the voice of the half-moon and how the sun will return and “bring a new morning”. All of that references details like how the People of the D. are among the biggest players in the world and howLuffy is destined to finish what Joy Boy started and free the world from the tyranny of Imu and the World Government, so it mostly reiterates what’s long been established at this point.
What’s truly notable about the Third World is the imagery associated with it. At the left end of the mural is what appears to be a depiction of Joy Boy’s battle against Imu, and not only is he with pre-established allies like EMET and Poseidon, but he’s also with various tribes like the Kozuki family, the ancient giants, the Minks, and even the Lunarians. That means thatJoy Boy united most, if not all the tribes of the world against Imu and still lost, which is nothing but a big statement of what happened and what’s yet to come.
Not only does the mural emphasize Imu’s immense power with all the people they defeated, but with Luffy following in Nika and Joy Boy’s footsteps, it’s now clear thatLuffy will have to bring together an army of some of the strongest characters in all ofOne Pieceif he wants to even have a chance of defeating Imu and saving the world. That sets the stage for an appropriately massive final battle for a story likeOne Piece, and with any luck, it will more than succeed at paying off that sort of build-up when the time finally comes.
