#the road to laughtale

[hauntingblue]

And WHERE is the gyojin island road poneglyph

[krongulous]

ELBAF PREDICTIONS, from someone currently in Zou #lol:

The villains in this arc will be Gods Knights, from the image shown here at least 9 are shown, though there could be more, this is based on the fact that rn the gorosei are tailing the strawhats at Egghead, so when they eventually escape to Elbaf, the knights will probably be sent after them.

Assuming 9 is the limit though I’ll send some quick match ups: Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, Jinbe, Franky, Usopp, Urouge, Enel, Gedatsu. Why these two out of nowhere?

Well I dont think the arc will be entirely focused on the giants, moreso this is gonna be an arc focusing on three characters, Gedatsu, Enel and Urouge

The three of them represent different parts of the sky islands lore, Gedatsu represents the destruction of Birka, being one of the few survivors

Enels focus will be an origin story of sorts, basically being about how he found the devil fruit and how he got to the sky islands, as you’ll note his lack of wings (this could just be due to the symbols on his back however)

And finally urouge, who I feel will also be tied to Birka in some way. I see a lot of people mistake him for being Shandian, however I don’t think this is the case, as his younger form is shown having a hairstyle only skypieans have. It’s also safe to say in this arc we’ll actually learn the name of his devil fruit.

If I had to throw a quick Oda esque-backstory out there: Urouge was there when Enel took over Birka, made Gedatsu and the rest of the priests work under him and finally destroy it when he saw it as no longer useful, and SOMEHOW survive and probably find a devil fruit afterwards.

Now why would they be at Elbaf?

For Gedatsu I can just see it being a coincidence, he tunnelled too far with his mole buddy and ended up at Elbaf with Goro and wacky hi-jinx ensue where chopper remembers Gedatsu blah blah blah but they’re over it

With Enel I can see him finally coming back down to earth to meet with Luffy, and when luffy wants to fight him, he instead makes peace with him, knowing his limits, he wants to ally with luffy instead since the murals on the moon had interested him so much, that he figured the blue sea below the skies had the answers

For Urouge though? I have three ideas:

A: he could want to ALLY with luffy, as he followed him to Elbaf to ask if he could join his grand fleet and help him claim the one piece, with him being forced to partner with Enel as they fight gods knights

B: he could be the actual villain of the arc, dispatching of one of Gods knights in the middle of a fight and forcing Luffy and Enel to team up to defeat him

Or finally C: Enels the real villain who gets rid of gods knights and makes luffy form an alliance with urouge and Gedatsu to defeat Enel, “for Birka!” Or whatever

Whatever the outcome of this is though, it will end with luffy having gained a new ally, and I think the outcome is set in stone by this point:

Robin will find the final road poneglyph here and after the battle, preparation for the final battle at Laughtale is set in motion, the grand fleet are called to Elbaf to prepare and a massive final party is had the night before they finally set off towards Laughtale.

Or it could be nothing like this and I essentially wrote a fanfic for nothing

[goingbuggy]

i’m pretty certain that’s not shanks’ own wedding. from what i’ve seen in the japanese fandom the general consensus is that it’s not his wedding and he’s a guest. (a popular theory is that it’s uta’s wedding but idk about that…) i’d bet it’s something to do with the giants (which oda didn’t want to reveal yet) just from the way it’s drawn is meant to deliberately hide the size of the church and the other guests. there’s a guy in the background who’s cheering at the church while facing away from shanks at the same time the doves are being released. it’s a crucial moment and shanks is just off to the side reading the newspaper.

i’m so certain shanks doesn’t have another kid, that would fuck up his character. oda loves shanks, and he loves his father-daughter relationships. he’d never make shanks into the kind of guy who’d willingly start a new happy family while uta’s back in Elegia suffering. it also just goes against the whole theme of bonds being stronger than blood? shanks leaves his adopted daughter miserable and suicidal, but takes care to ensure his biological child he hasn’t met is safe and loved? i just can’t imagine that being the ending.

i also see japanese fans saying they’d think shanks was a scummy guy towards uta if he went and had a kid, so i’ve seen people leaning towards beck instead. apparently oda emphasizing that beck loves women is a big indicator. 

another reason some fans say it’s not shanks is because makino calls him ‘taichou-san’ which is a very formal address. how people refer to each other is very important. so there’s a hint in how it’s distant and like a stranger’s behavior.

my personal opinion is that the dad is just a regular villager or a marine. there’s a lot of men who are way closer distance wise so that would be the simplest answer. there’s a good chance oda just doesn’t know or care when only one parent matters. we don’t even know yamato or luffy’s mom.

hi, anon!! sorry for making you wait. it's actually funny that i forgot to reply to this for so long, because in that time, my feelings have slightly... changed? somewhat??? i'll explain.

i was reading the extra "road to laughtale" volumes for fun recently when i stumbled across shanks' section, and there are some interesting implications which actually contradict my previous thoughts, if true.

the language used here -- that shanks is "attending a wedding ceremony," and "performing a benediction" -- sounds less like a man getting married, and more like a man who officiated someone else's wedding. (of course, there's the matter of translation accuracy and how canon this information actually is, but...)

"benediction" in particular is very interesting. not only is shanks attending a wedding, but he is essentially giving his blessing. how literal this is, i can't be sure, but either way, it implies a sense of familiarity/closeness to a party other than himself. perhaps shanks is giving his figurative "blessing" as an emperor to one of his allies, or maybe as a captain to one of his own crewmates. or maybe, in the most literal interpretation, he was responsible for wedding two individuals in some way.

i'd love to get my hands on the raw scans and see alternative translations, but "benediction" is so specific a term, and the repetition of "attending" reads as intentional. again, we still don't know for sure, but i feel a lot less certain about it being shanks' wedding, now!!

[dbphantom]

do you think when a zoan fruit user enters their awakened form it's a constant test of will, not just a one time thing? we saw in impel down if they're not prepared to awaken their fruits that they'll lose control to the animal's inherent nature

im asking because i'd like to make an animatic where a specific user starts losing control while in their awakened form because the fruit and the user de-synchronize due to a sudden emotional gut punch :)

mini essay + lots of manga spoilers below [wano act 3 + egghead]

im kind of obsessed with this exchange kaido has with luffy in 1046

it's interrupted by zunesha talking about joyboy and while that's PROBABLY what we're meant to assume Kaido's asking (who are you. are you joyboy? or even: who are you, what type of zoan fruit do you have, what is this transformation??)

when we cut back to luffy yelling

kaido says this

and the line immediately after

and im just saying... being a zoan fruit user himself with a crew full of zoan fruit users and a son who accidentally ate a zoan fruit, kaido PROBABLY knows about the dangers of awakening your fruit before you're ready to handle it

so him saying "glad to see you've still got that big mouth, straw hat" is more like... "I'm glad to see you're still you. here's what's happening to u rn, btw" since he already put 2 and 2 together that luffy's a zoan last chapter

to immediately jump into "we call this an awakening" means that's probably what kaido had on his mind, right?! like he was wondering if luffy had lost himself to nika's will instead of aligning with it and that's why kaido kinda randomly asks who he is, THEN starts explaining what awakenings are once luffy confirms it's still him

after all, luffy's been acting a bit differently since he changed forms and kaido's definitely picked up on that (he's more carefree, he's just a goofy guy now)

im also kinda backing this up with non-canon stuff given the road/lode to laughtale chapters where, along with all the g5/nika doodles, are a bunch of notes where oda questions what the fallout will be from awakening

[also interesting to note that oda seems to have 'scrapped' the idea that luffy's ability to bring people together was actually one of nika's powers all along. im happy to see that tbh i think he's just a charismatic guy]

and we've also seen that luffy struggles at least a little bit to control his new abilities in egghead

like, yeah, luffy is kinda clowning on lucci during this fight, but he also barely has control to the point he can't be serious when atlas's life is on the line

because he was taking things much more seriously before he transforms

vs after chopper already told him to hurry up or atlas isn't going to make it

[to be fair, you can argue he does get a lot more serious once the fighting's over and chopper urges him to hurry for the 2nd time

but this is also right before he detransforms...]

so im just saying

i'm gonna have fun with this :')

[l000sunny]

Road To Laughtale Vol. 1-4

[phyc0durus]

shitpost one piece theory’s that aren’t going to happen but it’s funny to think about anyway

- i refuse to believe Oda introduces Davy Back Fights and only uses it for Long Ring Long Land, i think the Strawhats are gonna have one against Blackbeards crew or Shanks’ crew for the Road/Lode Poneglyphs (this probably isn’t going to happen as i think the big war alluded to in Dressrosa is going to be the Strawhat Grand Fleet vs Blackbeard Pirates)(the other option would be the government but ehh.. Egghead already has the Strawhats vs the Gorosei)maybe against Shanks then? we’re going to Elebaf next and Shanks was seen there last, plus, Shanks would actually fight fairly during a Davy Back Fight (or, i would like to believe he would)(though, Elebaf is probably going to be more about the last Road/Lode Poneglyph [?? i think it’d be the last, i don’t actually remember] and Nika/Sun God’s origins)

another; i’m starting to get convinced that you can only reach Laughtale without a Devil Fruit (Buggy, the only Devil Fruit user on Rodgers crew, getting sick right before they get to Laughtale is a bit too convenient for me, also, Shanks most likely asked Rodger what was on the last island and was told, and no one on Shanks’ crew has a Devil Fruit), so, what if Blackbeard or someone on his crew steals Luffy’s fruit? I mean, this probably won’t happen as Luffy being rubber is a huge part of him plus there’s three other Devil Fruit users on this crew..

🔼 though, with the Shanks thing i mentioned, maybe the only reason he and his crew doesn’t have Devil Fruits is because he was told the world was sinking (same reason why Reighley has his Ship-Coating business and why Crocus is making Laboon into, like, a submarine)

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Oda was talking about Hyori, wasn't he? If I remember correctly he refers to her beauty in a similar way to how he does Hancock and Shirahoshi. At least at the time everyone was sure that this was who Oda was talking about.

Honestly...kinda spaced on Hiyori. That was a quick reblog while I was on break at work but your Q gave me something to think about the rest of the day. It's hard to say though, because given the context of the note it could actually apply to both her and Kiku. It came out about six months before Wano. Looking at it again there isn't exactly anything to go on that specifically makes me think of either/or. Both have a unique facial design that's very pretty, Hiyori's role as an Oiran and Kiku's reputation + poster girl role are both examples of renowned beauties. If you got way more technical than needed you could look at a few examples where we see similar language used for Kiku as say, Cavendish but from a design standpoint that wouldn't translate, and the Log Collection would have come out before Wano so any discussion would be speculative. So I'll walk that 99% back to a 50/50, with one caveat.

Oda could have been thinking of one person then and still ended up applying to both. Something that was ruminated upon with one of the Road to Laughtale specials. Keeps with the theme because it's the other half of the Fallensnowfan post I reblogged. The thing we're talking about was far enough out a lot of big details of Wano may not have been finalized. Basic idea; looked like the implication was Kiku & Izo were an early concept, we had an idea around a gang of samurai for a long time, but the two weren't rolled together until later. Hiyori wasn't really heavily hinted...I could see a rough draft of Wano where the two were one and still work. As much as there is to say about this with Yamato, it's a three-way foil dynamic.

[introspectivememories]

goin insane over @poststhatcrackmyegg's tags

#one piece#that quote 'have you ever wanted anything ever at all' with buggy and shanks#hits different#because we see shanks and buggy throughout their whole lives#and buggy is full of wants he is dripping with wants#and shanks just seems to behappy to be there#he only seems to want to drink#and buggy was there for almost all of it and he is begging#begging shanks to want anything at all#and then buggy cant take it anymore#because buggy wants to be king of the pirates and hes willing to give up that dream cause he wants shanks more#and then shanks doesnt even want that#and it scars buggy#it scars him where he lives#and he leaves and shanks doesnt want him enough to ask him to stay#and shanks didnt even care about the sacrifice he was willing to make in the first place#and now i imagine them meeting up on the road to laughtale#shanks deciding that he wants it#but shanks doesnt want it not really#he isnt moving like someone who wants something#and buggy grabbing him by his scruff and screaming screaming#and i think it would hurt shanks#because buggy was there for most it but not all of it#and shanks wanted luffy safe#gave up his arm to ensure it#shanks can want things#but buggy cant see that#because shanks has been wanting buggy for as long as the both of them have been alive#till the act of wanting is his baseline#till the act of wanting cant be removed from his being

kamen rider ooo x shuggy aka content for me and like two other people

[johnvenus]

According One Piece Chapter 1053.1 ‘The Road to Laugh Tale’ (official filler until chapter 1054 comes out), Roger named Ace after his sword. Was his gun named Anne then?   

More: 

[curapicas]

these luffys are incredible

[transmacewielder]

after the break hopes/predictions

yamato and carrot join the crew

yamato feels almost confirmed at this point like he is joining

i want carrot to join too because itd feel satisfying to her character imo

she inherited pedros will (sail with the crew of the pirate king) and has a desire to see the world, meaning id find it weird for her to go back to zou, and the idea that she'd join the fleet just... doesnt make any sense? what ship? what crew? and carrot isnt really captain material in my eyes

itd also fit the idea that only non-humans are joining in the new world

an arc where the monster trio are captured/incapicitated

i want chopper and franky in particular to get a more focused arc

and the new crewmate(s) will need a bit of focus as well

i think this would work really well in a vegapunk focused arc with all his machines and stuff

otherwise it could be that ryokugyu captures them although im not sure how exactly i feel about that

anyway theyve had so much spotlight recently between wci for sanji and wano for zoro and yknow. luffy is the main charatcer (and got a big spotlight in wano especially with g5 and stuff)

im already confident usopp and robin have some fairly major stuff still to do (elbaph and the road poneglyphs) and i feel like franky and chopper have just never had a time to shine (maybe partly bc chopper's not really a fighter)

nami also deserves something but i think with her being the navigator laughtale is gonna have her be fairly significant (also jimbei)

also yamato and carrot had better get spotlight as well but idk where (they both have cool furry forms tho and im sure theyll get some good fights. fingers crossed)

i have no fucking idea what to say for brook other than itd be cool if he got focus as well ig

mmmmm what else

confrontation between jimbei and fujitora i just feel like theyre meant to parallel each other with their dedication to peace

sabo is in a similar postion to ace (THERE IS A REASON NEW MARINEFORD IS IN THE NEW WORLD) and this time luffy will SUCCEED

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i think thats it for now

i hope yamato is like. somewhat important

[dbphantom]

rotating him in my mind... the goofy...

all that toontown fanart as a kid is starting to pay off /j

based entirely off this one drawing from the road to laughtale volumes bc i love it:

[robinchan-hananomi]

So here’s kinda how I see the rest of One Piece going:

Egghead- mini info dump arc

Elbaf- last road ponyglyph

Loadstar- last mini info dump

Laughtale- find the one piece, triger the big War that Oda has been hinting at and the finale confrontation between the Pirate King and hid of freedom vs. the World

Epilogue

Thoughts?

[howcomethatthisishappening]

So in Road to Laughtale 3 there’s this summary on devil fruits. And on the part about Zoan awakening there’s clearly stated that while it makes the user tougher it makes their own personality become dulled.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR LUFFY??!?!?!???

[fallensnowfan]

Early news is out for volume 104. Looks like it will contain nine chapters. With that extra space, wonder if it will include some concept art and such, ala volume 61. I’d enjoy if the Road to Laughtale sketches were featured in there, though anything along those lines would be fun.

I dig the contrast of Joyboy and Komurasaki on the cover, comedy and tragedy, very theatrical. Would have liked if at least Kin’emon of the Akazaya were here, or perhaps Tama, but what it is works well.

[riammm]

May "road to laughtale" na malapit na talagang matapos ang one piece :(