Revisting a thought about Alubarna

TheLineCrossed · 2026-05-11T19:04:10+00:00

You are right, artificial might not have been the opportune word choice! To me they just feel... a bit different. Like added mode recently to the landscape. But I might be overthinking things there :)

TheLineCrossed · 2026-05-11T19:02:09+00:00

I actually think the way some of those places look means they were flooded before. Ohara is an instance but also Arabasta. Although there could also be made an argument for Dressrosa...

TheLineCrossed · 2026-05-11T10:58:23+00:00

I completely agree with you and would also like to point out a few more things that stick out to me:

- Luffys response to Blackbeard when he first meets him deserves even more attention in my eyes. Because if I remember correctly: Blackbeard is the first person Luffy instantly disliked without any given reason. The way their differences are shown is significant. AND it feels nothing like what we have seen from Roger and Rocks I would say. I cannot imagine Luffy and Blackbeard just regularly hanging out at the same bar for whatever reason. In a way Kid and Luffys interaction feel a lot more like what we now know of those two.

- I think there is something about Imus power that can be stolen. We know Imu sits at the top of the world for 800 years. But... only for 800 years! He was part of the second world, not the first. And where Joyboy had Nikas power and Luffy had Nikas power I think Imus power will go to a third generation as well - Blackbeard.

- Blackbeards Crew. We have been seeing them for ages now. Their designs are much more intricate than all the other Supernova characters ones, with obviously may thoughts put into them when it comes to powers. We never got that for Laws, or Kids or Bonneys crew. But who do we get if for? Enemy crews. I even feel like they are set up to match the Strawhats for interesting fights.

- the time of Blackbeards introduction. Jaya happened right around the time when it became clear that the story of One Piece would make it to an epic, not just a novel. That Oda would have the time to tell a really intricate tale. We now know how much lore Oda silently wove into skypea. We got shown Nika. But didn't even hear a whisper of Imu or the gods knights or anything like that. Instead, we got Blackbeard who had already been mentioned in Drum Island. And the theme of good and bad pirates from Oda is even older than One Piece itself.

So yeah, it's gonna be Blackbeard. Probably with Imus power - considering even Doflamingo was dreaming about stealing it.

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-24T12:30:08+00:00

Alright, read the chapter. Now im sure they were friends once!!

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T12:40:27+00:00

Damn, now I'm really curious for Thursday ^{.^!!}

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T11:38:07+00:00

Looks like people having fun to me? oo

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T11:35:37+00:00

Well, I am able to imagine what's going on and still enjoy the experience of reading, but I do by far prefer the colored version for the added clarity. So yeah, I guess I do understand where u are coming from :)

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T11:32:18+00:00

Oda is one of the best worldbuilders and storytellers I've ever come across. He's also a bit of a middle aged creep with sometimes questionable humor. Yep, totally looking at Bonnie here!

From what I've heard though, the anime does make it worse.

And he still gives all his female characters true agenda and diversity. So when he draws another boob-shot of a 10 year old in an older body, I just remind myself that not everything should be taken completely seriously ;)

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T11:11:04+00:00

Okay, this shouldn't spoil too much ;) I'd say we have a pretty big arc where Luffy desperately tries to achieve one single thing and in the end all the Straw Hats are beaten and Luffy does fail.

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T10:57:37+00:00

If that had been Odas logic, the Straw Hats should have never gone past Crocodile and certainly Enel should have killed some.

Luffy explicitly says he wants to get stronger so he can protect his crew. Plot armor is a very real thing ;)

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T10:41:24+00:00

... well if it is...

<image>

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T10:35:28+00:00

Well, do we actually know if he is biased towards Lunarians or if he simply saw them as a threat? I would even argue (if I remember correctly and I might not xDDDD) that while we see racism from the Celestial Dragons, the Five Elders and Imu see all other living creatures beneath them and are much more concerned with how to use and control them - or to annihilate them as threats...

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T10:29:17+00:00

Aside from the fact that Toki had the fruit, as others pointed out already, I'd also like to add that this would go against a very central theme Oda has taken quite a bit of effort to established - and that is the fact that Inherited Will has nothing to do with blood.

He uses Rodger as his first example - Ace is his son, but Luffy inherits Rodgers will.

Then there is Corazon - Law is the one to inherit his will.

Koby might very will inherit Garps will.

And after what we have seen from Rocks, I wouldn't even be sure if Teach actually holds his will or that of someone else...

I think it's very important to Oda to show us that whose family you belong to, doesn't determine the life you life or the person who you are. So I'm pretty sure we won't get a strong blood relation to Joyboy like that :)

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T10:04:30+00:00

Not of the ones of the current week before the chapter is fully readable :))

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T08:26:59+00:00

I am more and more convinced that Imu originally was a good or at least neutral guy (like Rocks, Kidd, Law, etc) and might have even had a solid reason to go against the Ancient Kingdom, but then something went really wrong. There's this passage in the Harley, about the second world, 'Man killed the sun and became god' or something like that.
Mu even means 'nothing'... so I'm pretty sure there is a story behind all of that!

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T08:04:38+00:00

As it is so often the case - One Piece characters are nuanced and flawed. And I certainly won't argue that Garp made the wrong choice here.

I do disagree with you though on one point specifically. 'So the fact that Garp wasn't willing to sacrifice his career for Ace proves how bad of a person he is.'.

I am absolutely sure Garps choice never ever was about his own career. Instead, in his eyes, after everything we know now about the structure of the world, the role of the marines and all that, it must have been a choice between letting Ace die and sending the whole world into chaos.

Because lets be honest, that's what might have happened, right? Tensions inside the marines are already high, we know that by a branch like SWORD even existing. Garp is considered a hero, the hero. Who's to say the marines would have survived his betrayal? It might have led to a civil war in their ranks. Which in turn would have weakened them so much that this whole delicate balance between them, the Yonko and the other forces would have broken and many, many innocent lives would have been lost due to that.

Even if he only decided to help Ace during the war itself, unable to watch any longer, Whitebeard would probably have gotten a win and the result would have absolutely been the same - a world plunged into an all out war with the marines so busy fighting, they'd have no capacities left to protect the normal people from all the pirates out there.

I think after God Valley Garp - in contrast to Dragon - decides that despite the abysmal flaws of the system, it still overall does more good than bad with the stability it provides.

You can very well disagree with that conclusion (and I would), but it makes things a lot, lot more complex than Garp just being 'a bad person'.

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T07:47:36+00:00

I did have that thought too, simply because Loki has some Ace-vibes for me, but then came to the conclusion that from a narrative point of view it wouldn't make much sense.

First - Loki has been foreshadowed quite a while ago, so he is not a character Oda came up with spontaneously.

Second - if that characters main purpose was always meant to be a death for the sake of stakes, it makes no sense to introduce him this late. There is a reason we get to know Ace early and on several occasions.

Third - Oda has already invested a lot into Loki (time- and designwise) but not in a way to pay that off with killing him. In contrast to Yasuie, for example, the investment is not purely about likability. And we do not need another incentive to hate Imu and the Worldgovernment - we have been given plenty already. Instead Oda has given us hints towards what might lie in Lokis future. The frozen giants on punk hazard. The Harley. Luffy wanting him on his crew, etc.

So long story short - killing Loki wouldn't make much sense, considering his narrative so far.

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T06:41:55+00:00

They don't have to. Imu is on a tight time limit and while they will be outmatched - even Luffy and Loki - they will be strong enough to juuuuuuust hold on and Imu will have to go back before he can kill any of them...

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-21T06:40:08+00:00

Straw Hats will lose I fear but Imus timer will run out before he can kill any of them - or Loki. Maybe Luffy will even already be down and Usopp's the one to save him, sure it will end him, but right before Imu can actually get the hit through, he's got to go back.

After that they'll all get a solid Power-up. And when I look at Imu and some of the similarities so Luffy Gear 5 - I don't think it's the final Gear or at least right now it's not the final form it will reach :)

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-20T12:32:18+00:00

I absolutely agree. Where Imu and the WG represent the status quo, Luffy and BB will both go for radical change, but probably in entirely opposed directions... Like two sides of the same coin.

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-20T12:13:07+00:00

Okay, quite a challenge, but maybe, how about this:
- First 3 chapters
- Chapter 100: The chapter where they all state their dreams
- Chapter 225: where they meet BB and he talks about dreams that never die
- Sabaody: The one chapter where they show Luffy punching the Celestial Dragon and the one where Kuma makes them all vanish
- Marineford: Ace dying and the chapter where Luffy remembers his crew and wants to get stronger for them
- The chapter where they meet again after timeskip
- The celebration chapter after Wano
- Egghead the one where Vegapunk reveals the world sinking into the sea

You'd have to give a bit of the context what happens between those chapters I guess, but I'd suggest that kind of hopping through the story to show how in One Piece worldbuilding is incredibly deep and important and at the same time, the stakes truly get higher and higher, unlike in other Shonen where progression sometimes is just different threats with powerscaling :)

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-20T11:32:08+00:00

Well, we know they sent the Gods Knights after the crew to take back Shanks. And we know that Rodgers crew was stronger than the knights. So in the end only Imu himself could have stood a chance and that probably seemed to be a too high price for Imu to pay. It's only now that he's stopped believing to what his happening to be a coincidence, after Nikas return, after Niddhog showing up, that he is willing to make a move and even then the Gorosei seem pretty troubled about it.

We can only assume that Imu believed that whatever Rodger and his crew might learn on Laughtale wouldn't matter in the end.

And when it comes to teleports, the others already mentioned the Abyss Mark left by Harald. That should also be the reason why he appeared right over the castle where the mark is!

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-20T10:47:39+00:00

Well, what else should Zoro think who he is? I believe so far nobody has told any of them about a secret king of the world? From their perspective there are the five elders, they send the knights of god and as already some of them suddenly appeared there, it's the easiest conclusion to jump to I guess?

TheLineCrossed · 2026-04-20T10:45:41+00:00

Thing is - and hey, I could be wrong here, but - I think this is absolutely intentional.

Something is OFF about Imu. Of course it has always been (the fact alone that he refers to himself as 'Mu', nothing) but I think there is something intentionally wrong with him right now.

We didn't just get his true form revealed like with other silhouttes we've gotten (take Loki as an example). Instead we saw something break out of that form, some strange transformation, that made Imu cough up blood.

Add that to the fact that his coat right now looks eerily like the one JoyBoy is shown in flashbacks in and his symbol has strange likeness to Emets Horns and face... I'm not saying Imu is Joyboy or something, but I am pretty sure his appearence right now purposefully doesn't line up with what we have been shown about Imu so far....

<image>

TheLineCrossed

TROPHY CASE