The Legend of Oden Kozuki

Kozuki Oden is one the most interesting and impressive characters in the whole series. Now let’s look at his abilities and achievements: Oden had the ability to hear the Voice of All Things. Oden had knowledge and skills to read Poneglyphs and write its ancient language. Oden possessed Conqueror’s Haki. Him being the only man to ever master his sword, Enma, suggests that Oden also had great skill in Armament Haki. Oden became a daimyo of Kuri at a young age of 20.

Oden was loved and adored by Wano Country. And he still has such loyal retainers. Roger was captivated by him. Shanks and Buggy held incredible respect for him. As a member of Roger Pirates, he was a well respected individual among his crew. He referred Shanks and Buggy as the respective first and second sons, though the latter was annoyed for being called one. All the crew wanted to help Oden’s wish to make Wano Country an open to the world though Oden declined as he wanted to solve the problem on his own. Oden was also a division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Whitebeard was charmed. Finally, Oden is the only person who scarred and wounded Kaido. Oden is a legend. I can’t wait to know more about him!

The Leak: From Zou to Wano

INTRODUCTION
I did write a "theory" regarding whom I thought the leak was which I classed as PURELY SPECULATIVE even in the title. Reason being I had no concrete evidence in some of my conclusions. However, there are some things that we can factually identify and I think it's using that as context that will make this a lot easier.

With that said, I'm somewhat discarding the person I suspected as a leak in my theory as the evidence wasn't very substantial, it was for the most part open to interpretation, but here I am writing another piece of speculation which I think would be better than the last.

I will highlight what is Speculative and what I deem Fact in sub-headings. Without much more rambling... on to my main point.

FACT: ORIGIN OF THE LEAK
Carrot as well as other Minks have been subjected to being called a traitor for whatever reason. I'm not going to claim she is/they are at this point. I will however lay down some OBJECTIVE FACTS regarding how the Beast Pirates knew Raizo was at Zou.

First thing that needs to be understood is that Oda in essence tells us HOW they got to Zou. We're told by Inuarashi that they must have had a Vivre card ⁸²⁴. It's the one hint Oda gives us, therefore, it's implied he's telling us we should go with Vivre cards are how they got there.

Second thing that needs be understood is how do vivre cards work. It's a piece of paper created with Toe Nail clippings. This paper once created can be torn.

    The torn pieces are attracted towards each other, but it doesn't tell one how far the papers are from the other ⁴⁸⁹.
    The other thing is it indicates one's life-force by reducing in size ⁴⁸⁹; it also changes in size meaning if someone dies, the Vivre-card will disappear ⁵⁷⁴.

What does this mean exactly regarding Jack arriving at Zou? For example, Luffy's vivre card in Wano was found by Sanji, it however didn't tell them where exactly he was, but they at least knew he was alive ⁹²⁰. They had to contact Kinemon in order to know where exactly Luffy was located.

The other thing that needs be reinforced is Vivre-cards disappear when life has dissipated and remains if someone is alive.

HOW DOES ONE GET TO ZOU
Law had a vivre-card of Bepo in order to get to Zou ⁸⁰⁵; he gave one to Nami ⁷⁰¹; he gave one to Nami because it's impossible to get to Zou since it isn't an Island with a magnetic field, but a moving Elephant ⁸⁰². It means one can't just get to Zou because they know Zou exists, one can only get there if they have a vivre card of someone at Zou.

The exception would be being Mink whom are able to home in on Zou seemingly. Bepo had been away from Zou most of his life, yet he found his way there which implies they must have some unique homing ability.

WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW
Most people don't know this, but I will explain how it relates to Zou. When the Swirly Pirates went to Zou, the Big Mom Pirates followed them. How? Are one of the Strawhat Pirates secretly spies, leaks or traitors working for Big Mom? I think we can logically conclude they're not given all the sacrifices they've made for each other.

How then did Big Mom Pirates know Swirly Pirates were heading to Zou? Simply, they heard them shouting that they were heading for Zou... go figure ⁸¹¹. There was no traitor amongst the Strawhat Pirates.

Most people aren't aware that when Kinemon and co. arrived from the past, whilst being chased by BEAST PIRATES, they shouted to meet at Zou ⁹²⁰. There wasn't necessarily a traitor amongst the Minks. The Beast Pirates simply like the Big Mom Pirates... heard the information.

However, as we've established from Law, just knowing about Zou doesn't let you know how to get to Zou. You need someone at Zou whose vivre card is at hand, otherwise, it's impossible to get to Zou, thus, Inuarashi's conclusion.

As shown here:

    A traitor isn't necessary for someone to have come to Zou.

WHAT DOES ALL THE EVIDENCE TELL US

    We know how vivre cards work.
    We know they must have heard the location being passed across, thus Jack arriving at Zou.
    We know there isn't necessarily a traitor.

What we now need to do is use the current information we have to understand the most likely scenario that led to this event.

Another bit of information we need to realise here is that Raizo arrived at Zou. We can only assume that Raizo also had a Vivre card of someone at Zou just like Jack did.

CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO GET TO ZOU
For a vivre card to lead to Zou:

    The person must be at Zou.
    The person must be alive.
    The person must be in possession of a vivre card while at zou.
    Most importantly, the person whose vivre card has been acquired MUST have been outside of Zou at least once, or it's impossible to get their vivre card to begin with.
    They also MUST have run in with the Beast Pirates.

Who are the people that have been outside of Zou though?

    Inuarashi was present at Wano when Kaido killed Oden (therefore been outside of Zou at least once confirmed), he ran into Beast Pirates (encounter confirmed).
    Nekomamushi was present at Wano when Kaido killed Oden (therefore been outside of Zou at least once confirmed), he ran into Beast Pirates (encounter confirmed)
    Pedro was a Pirate who went to WCI (therefore been outside of Zou at least once confirmed), but no evidence he ran into any other Pirates other than the Big Mom Pirates or Evidence he went to Wano (encounter unconfirmed).

The only Minks whose vivre cards could have been acquired are Inuarashi's or Nekomamushi's. Carrot and most Minks have not been outside of Zou, so it'd be impossible to have acquired their vivre cards, much more be considered traitors.

HOW DID THEIR VIVRE CARDS GET ACQUIRED
Through Kinemon's account of what happened when Oden got killed, he tells us Inuarashi and Nekomamushi got involved with the enemy whilst squabbling ⁹²⁰. In fact, Kinemon talks about this back in Zou, or at least... references it ⁸¹⁷.

One thing I'd like to point out is we don't know if vivre cards disappear if one is transported into the future or if they become regarded as dead according to the vivre card. Therefore, I'd go with what is known and assume the Beast Pirates acquired vivre cards of one of the 9 sheathes that were known to be alive at Zou (Nekomamushi and Inuarashi).

I'd guess Oden had vivre cards of his subordinates who sailed with him on both Whitebeard's and Roger's ship, thus when Oden was killed, the Beast Pirates likely acquired it. As soon as they heard Raizo was heading to Zou, they took these vivre cards of either Minks to Zou and stayed there unwavering in their conviction of Raizo's presence.

Another thing that should be taken note of here is the Minks said they planned with Kinemon and co. to meet up at Zou ⁸¹⁷. One of the Minks must have given a piece of their vivre card to Raizo.

While to me this definitely and evidentially proves there was no leak with sound reasoning and evidence, just the idea that the Minks could be traitors after almost dying is mind-boggling. Even without this, it's simply difficult to believe the Minks could be traitors.

The question now is who is the leak in Wano? I think based on this, I can confidently rule out the Minks.

THE LEAK AT WANO: Pick Your Hints Objectively
A bunch of the scabbards have been blamed for being leaks/traitors. The question that has to be asked is.... where's the evidence?

We sometimes mistaken hints and evidence. A hint is the entertainment of something possibly being evidence, and it may not be. Many theories that are wrong tend to be based on hints. It's subjective.

That's not to say a hint can't be evidence, a hint simply has to be consistent with the objective facts in order to be tenured.

Hints are also obscure, so they're hard claim as concrete evidence. For example:

    Kinemon couldn't find Inuarashi when he wanted to report a leak having been found ⁹³⁸. Does that make Inuarashi the leak? No, why not? It's not substantial evidence of anything other than he wasn't found at that point in time.

It could be a hint and it may not be. When do we consider it a hint? If there's consecutive or inumerable displays of odd behaviour, then we could entertain it as a hint.

It's very difficult to call anything a hint; the only time something can be called a hint is after the fact. Hints are so obscure they can hardly be called evidence to prove anything.

The only time hints (which are subjective) can be really trusted is if there is a consistent showing of similar behaviours or patterns.

My last theory, I said speculatively, the culprit was Jibuemon simply the fact that:

    He appeared to Kinemon with 2 men ⁹²⁰, and when the leak occurred, he wasn't present in Rasetsu prison whereas the 2 other men were ⁹³⁹.

Like I said in my theory, purely speculative. Maybe they just haven't seen him. It's not necessarily a case of Jibuemon being guilty.

Could it be a hint? Possibly, but in the end, if it turns out the leak was someone else, then it wasn't a hint at all.

We have to pick our hints carefully and objectively in context with previous information that's interpreted properly and makes sense.

ANALYSIS OF THE LEAK: WHO FITS THE BILL
We need to establish who could be the leak. Just like if 3 people were in a room and there's a missing item, we know 1 of these 3 people at the very least is the culprit.

In this scenario, we have to establish who the leak or traitor could be.

The important thing to understand is how did Kinemon develop his plan, and from that, we're able to find the flaws in the plan. This panel shows how the plan was formulated:

    First, we must understand that Kinemon and co. appear 20 years from the past into the future.
    They have lost all orientation of Wano.
    They see the changes that have taken place.
    They get approached by Jibuemon.
    Jibuemon indicates that all allies of the Kozuki who were ready to fight 20 years ago got marked with ankle tattoos in the shape of crescents.

What we need to have in mind is Kinemon NEVER knew about the crescent ankle meaning most people do not know about it. These ankles didn't become a thing until the Kozuki clan were supposedly wiped out. For 20 years, people have been walking around Wano with these tattoos.

What does this mean? It means Orochi and the entirety of Wano probably never knew anything about these tattoos or its significance. THIS is why Kinemon decided to make leaflet puzzles with this crescent tattoo.

No one could know what it meant unless:

    They had the tattoo meaning they knew what the tattoo symbolised.
    Or were informed about the tattoo e.g. people like Kinemon without the tattoo who were informed of its symbolism such as the alliance outside of those wearing the crescent; in other words, anyone in the alliance.

Another thing to take into consideration is, yes, we're all the way at chapter 958, but the leak took effect in chapter 936 ⁹³⁶. Why is the chapter important? because it tells us when the leak occurred, therefore, anyone relevant in the story around this time is a suspect.

The culprits constrained to this period would be:

    Samurai with Tattoos like Jibuemon (KNEW THE SYMBOLISM, DIDN'T NEED TO BE INFORMED)
    Kinemon (informed on symbolism)
    Kanjuro (informed on symbolism)
    Raizo (informed on symbolism)
    Kiku (informed on symbolism)
    Momonosuke (informed on symbolism)
    Shinobu (informed on symbolism)
    Heart Pirates (informed on symbolism)
    Straw Hats (informed on symbolism)
    Ashura Doji/Shutenmaru (informed on symbolism)
    Kawamatsu (informed on symbolism BUT was imprisoned up until chapter 948)

So, these are our culprits who number 11, but the only person we can cross out is Kawamatsu leaving us with 10 culprits. Leaks have been taking places before he was out of prison, therefore, it's likely the leaks are as a result of whomever leaked it the first time. What did I just do here? I gave Kawamatsu an ALIBI, and this is what I will be using to narrow down the culprit.

TIMING OF LEAK: WHY NOW?
Kinemon and co. are informing Luffy and co. that from the moment they were transported to the future, to the moment that Luffy arrived at Wano, only a few months (2-3) have gone by ⁹²⁰.

They met Jibuemon who told them about the crescent tattoo a few months ago apparently. So, anything from 2-3 months ago was when Kinemon knew about the crescent tatoo .

    Kiku has been in Wano for let's say 2 months doing research and investigating Kaido's forces.
    Kinemon left Kiku for 2 months while they went to find recruits from Zou and outside Wano.

My point is the crescent tattoo is something that has not been leaked for 2 months at least.

    Kinemon, Heart Pirates and some SHs arrived at Wano about 2-3 weeks ago.
    So for 2 months + 2/3 weeks, the crescent tattoo was never known about.

So, even before Luffy arrived, these people were in Wano and knew about the crescent tattoo:

    Kinemon
    Kanjuro
    Raizo
    Kiku
    Shinobu
    Inuarashi

More importantly, these people were the alliance and the people in the know. Then:

Strawhats - Zoro, Franky, Robin, Usopp

Heart Pirates - Law, Bepo, Shachi, etc.

My question is why wasn't there a leak for over 2 months and 2/3 weeks until the Luffy arrived. What happened after Luffy arrived? The tattoo only became known about AFTER Luffy and crew arrived.

This helps us refine the culprit further. The timing is from Luffy's arrival to chapter 936, we'll find who the leak is.

ALIBIS FOR THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN LUFFY'S ARRIVAL AND CHAPTER 936
I will only bring up those that are easiest to monitor, and those who I feel are relevant.

    Luffy, Raizo, Kawamatsu were all in prison - so they can't likely be the leaks as Raizo would have been trying to save Luffy whereas Kawamatsu wouldn't know about the crescent.
    Kiku was with Chopper, Big Mom, Momonosuke and Tama trying to go to Udon when the leak occurred, so we can somewhat dismiss them reasonably imo.
    Shinobu was with Nami, Robin and Brook at the Feast trying to investigate the Shogun's dwelling before the leak happened, they were together the entire time, so even Shinobu shouldn't be able to leak anything.
    The only one of the Scabbards that was not partaking in the investigating was Kanjuro who Nami and co. met with. So, Kanjuro was alone for a while.
    Kanjuro was also isolated from Nami, Shinobu and Robin in the bath when the leak occurred.
    Kanjuro has been the only one with this information that has been pretty isolated which does make him a possible leak.
    Inuarashi was apparently nowhere to be found when Kinemon wanted to tell him a leak had occurred, but then he appeared, but he's been working closely with the others in the Kuri region, so we can't say anything definitely.

Out of all the scabbards, Kanjuro and Inuarashi seem to be the only ones who have been somewhat solitary to entertain them as leaks. Even with that said, it's hard to see the motive for any of these scabbards to be a leak as they've been through a hell of a lot to be culprits.

It all boils down to this, even if we entertain Kanjuro and Inuarashi as possible leaks, they've been in Wano for so long that it makes one wonder why they'd decide to leak now and not earlier? Why not earlier? It makes no sense.

Alibis does somewhat help, but context of these characters make it difficult to still point a finger at anyone. They've proven to be as loyal as they come. They shed tears over Yasu, they were angered by Kaido's gratuitous violence and they love Oden.

What then do we refer to in order to point fingers?

WHAT CHANGED AFTER LUFFY ARRIVED? ASHURA DOJI/SHUTENMARU

    Kinemon tried to recruit Shutenmaru as we see here ⁹²⁵; the leaks happened shortly after this. A day or 2 later in fact.
    Shutenmaru and jfought Kaido together ⁹²². This must have happened when Kinemon was transported into the future. Kawamatsu isn't present either. This could have happened 5 years ago or 15 years ago, we don't know. It's just odd that Shutenmaru doesn't say anything about this to Kinemon when he was indirectly speaking about Denjiro ⁹⁵⁴. He knows something about Denjiro given that they fought Kaido together, yet he says nothing about it.
    We can assume Kinemon told Shutenmaru about the crescents; we know he did try to recruit Shutenmaru, but failed.
    It's also quite odd that Shutenmaru pretended like he had no intention to fight Kaido when he refused Kinemon, he has actually been working towards fighting Kaido again where Kinemon is just 20 years late: We see he's been gathering ships from all around Wano for 20 years: . He also says he's not been idle for these 20 years.

    Shutenmaru despite having failed 10 years ago ⁹⁵⁰, he's still been trying to fight against Kaido. He has been gathering ships, stealing food supplies. In fact, we know Shutenmaru was the one who stole the plans for Onigashima that Franky was looking for, and it seems he stole these after the people who couldn't wait 20 years to fight died 10 years ago.
    Shutenmaru has also been recruiting men for the past 2 decades in preparation for Kaido ⁹⁵⁰.
    Whilst trying to recruit Shutenmaru... Kinemon had no idea how many crescent footed people were around. They supposedly didn't even have 500 people recruited according to Shinobu.

This leads me to conclude that:

    Shutenmaru was the one who leaked the crescent tattoo in order to see how many people would be rounded up for battle given that he's been preparing too.
    I'm also going to guess that Shutenmaru knows who Denjiro is since we know both of them fought Kaido. It seems both changed their name, Ashura Doji changed to Shutenmaru whereas Kyoshiro changed to Denjiro.
    Shutenmaru was aware that Hiyori was found, he was there when it was stated, but it seems the specifics whereabouts was never stated; he also possibly leaked Tokage Port probably because he's working alongside Denjiro (Kyoshiro); Denjiro will probably release the prisoners and they'll possibly regroup at Habu port.

It seems Shutenmaru may have outsmarted everyone as he's been doing for the past 20 years. It just seems odd that he fought with Denjiro and then he never even brings him up again. Could very well be that he's the leak and could be secretly working with Denjiro (Kyoshiro).

Quite interesting that the leak also never ratted out the fact the 9 sheathes were alive, otherwise Orochi would be looking for them at their base which is why I believe the leak is someone who doesn't hate Oden. If they did, they just need tell them where their base was located, and it would have been a wrap.

This is my final conclusion on the entire thing, could well be wrong, but I'm personally sold as I think it makes the most sense.

The God Valley

The manga introduced a new island, known as God Valley. Sengoku says it was wiped from the books of history. He also adds it was involved to the taboos of the world, meaning the Poneglyph and the Ancient Weapon. But we heard of that island before, it's the kingdom that Professor Clover talked about, which was wiped from history.

Professor Clover said the existence of the kingdom posed a threat to the world government, and while he wasn't sure why, they key to it was the name of the kingdom. The name is God Valley. This is because this island poses a threat to the living gods of the world, the Celestian Dragons. Someone normally would discover about the Poneglyph and the Ancient Weapon when they reach the island at end of the Log Pose. That island is God Valley. Rocks reached God Valley, and he decided to find the Ancient Weapons to become King of the World. It was after the God Valley Incident that Roger, Whitebeard and the others went on their own journeys. Shiki also said he and Roger would use the Ancient Weapon to rule the world. This is because he was a member of the Rocks Pirates, and is just following his former captain plan.

Unexpected Ally against Bigmom And Kaido Alliance!

With Kaido demolishing Luffy, it seems like Luffy has an insurmountable mountain to climb but this is just great writing by Oda. Oda only has a few categories that contribute to power levels so breaking it down makes it easy to see what area Luffy can make up the difference:

Haki

Oda loves misdirection and Advanced Haki is another perfect example of this. With all of Luffy’s recent training he is repeatedly trying to point fans down the road of Advanced Haki being the solution to Luffy beating Kaido.

Devil Fruit Abilities

The level of mastery is key since we have mastery of the basic devil fruit abilities (Luffy is the best example of exploiting the unique traits to create the various Gears).

Awakening

Clearly this allows for astronomical power-ups. Potential weakling guards become probably second in all of Impel Down to only Magellan, Doflamingo gains a perfect defense/offense combination, and something most fans might have overlooked: the massive destructive power of Aokiji/Akainu to seemingly permanently change the environment of Punk Hazard. With this last example in mind, there is no other option for Luffy’s final major power-up.

Physical Capabilities.

All physical factors related to “combat capabilities” (power/physical strength, destructive power, endurance, speed, agility/evasiveness, etc… This can be trained with the right exercising, but the level of “natural talent” makes a huge difference on the starting point (Luffy/Zoro/Sanji all started with natural talent compared to the rest of the crew).

Furthermore Luffy’s ability to figure out an opponent’s weakness throughout the series will continue to be key. Unfortunately, Kaido will be the most complex puzzle to figure out which is exactly why Oda made multiple comments on not knowing how to handle the Luffy vs. Kaido fight.

I do want to continue on one aspect from the above in the theory. Luffy already is very close to “Yonko level” for physical capabilities in my mind. The residual kinetic energy of Doflamingo destroying a huge chunk of Dressrossa. The destructive power of King Kong Gun matches Aokiji/Akainu’s final attack. Luffy is getting a power-up to his physical capabilities.

With Luffy already having adequate strength/destructive power (it previously couldn’t penetrate Kaidou’s mastery of defensive Busoshoku). Just in case anyone overlooked this minuscule detail, Kaido has complete mastery of defensive Busoshoku:

It is not shading. Every single attack Luffy throws has the minimal amount of defensive Busoshoku used and this is the main thing that stops Kaidou from taking any damage. This mastery in conjunction with implied foresight level Kenbunshoku negates all non-advanced level haki attacks. In theory, maybe there is an “advanced defensive Busoushoku” technique. The “haki barrier” technique is implied to be this but we don’t see two evenly matched opponents square off. In all other instances, offensive haki has major advantages over defensive haki, so until we get real evidence, this is up to debate and I can argue either side. Even if this does not exist, there’s still an easy negation: Kaido throwing his own advanced haki attack. Kaido will have greater physical capabilities than Luffy, so Luffy takes damage in every exchange. Kaido has been recently been shown to not be a complete meathead, so he will figure out such a simplistic strategy that has a 100% success rate.

Thus, the only other empty category (legit plot wise too) is an Awakening and this has to be the answer because it is the only thing that allows for the necessary astronomical power-up.


All of this should perfectly fit, so now into the meat of the theory. What is necessary to unlock an Awakening?

We’ve only seen a handful of awakenings, but people like Doflamingo, Aokiji, and Akainu do have one thing in common. They’ve all had their fruit abilities for years and years (potentially decades). I’m thinking there is a year/duration limitation in that the DNA mutations from the akuma has to reach a necessary threshold. So from a scientific standpoint, maybe every single cell in a fruit users body has to be genetically altered and this is just a slow process. This is the opposite of the science of cell proliferation but…manga logic. We’ve got a guy that can stretch any body part 100 gomu gomu so Oda gets to make up whatever he wants.

The biggest support for this is Lucci making multiple cameos. Only characters that have future roles stick around. If Lucci is getting screen time in Stampede, he’s got a huge role to play. Tag teaming with Luffy to take down Kaido fits this.

Obviously, an old enemy suddenly being an ally is a huge deal considering Luffy completely ruined Lucci’s impeccable reputation. How/why would Lucci side with Luffy. Kaido/Big Mom’s alliance is the biggest threat to the world. CP0 operates on country changing level threats. Big Mom and Kaido alone are CP0 level threats. The alliance immediately becomes CP0’s top priority to weaken. Thus, even though they hate each other, the mutual greater enemy forces the alliance.

If that isn’t enough, I’ve got more:
When Law escaped, someone with a cape let him out. Someone wants as much chaos/pro-Luffy situations. Yes, this could be Denjirou or Drake. However, there is one other key panel in all of this.

When Orochi meets with CP0, there is an additional spy watching them from the next room. They are obviously upset at Orochi since the text bubbles overlap their angry eye. Context implies a CP0 agent was assigned to be a spy and monitor the already huge threat of Kaidou/Orochi’s alliance. Lucci is the only person that fits all of the breadcrumbs (don’t forget about the Stampede/cameo aspect).

As we know Wano arc is based on the kabuki. So the third act of the Wano Kuni arc being a “tragedy” fully fits kabuki plots. With only advanced haki, Luffy is 100% guaranteed to still get his butt handed to him…easily too.

Bomb time! I’m thinking the combination of an awakened Luffy (Gear Fifth?) and an awakened Lucci will be the tag team that fights Kaido in the real climax of the arc.

To go back to Oda’s comments on how he couldn’t figure out a fitting way for Luffy to defeat Kaido, this is probably with the combination of an awakened Luffy and an awakened Lucci (Lucci had already made two manga cameos at that point). Kaido is literally such a beast that two legit powerhouses in the New World were still struggling to take down Kaido in Oda’s mind.

And this is with them having pretty good chemistry. Not only have they fought each other they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and are both strategic enough to fight to set up the other for what they excel at, but the time spent training together for Luffy to get his awakening will be key bonding. Luffy is a dunce. He will struggle at picking up whatever “training” aspect is necessary. Lucci will have to beat his own head with all the frustration. But like every other Luffy relationship, that’s just how it goes.

Unexpected Traitor among the Nine Red Scabbards!

Given the things we know the traitor revealed to the enemy and the timeline of events Kanjuro is the one that makes most sense, he was probably a traitor even before the time jump.

So let me go over a few points:

1 Jack learned 2 things from the traitor: how to get to Zou and the fact that Raizo was there. Back when this was revealed most people suspected that a mink was a traitor, but Kanjuro could have provided them with this information as well. The samurai had a way of getting to Zou (probably Inuarashi or Nekomamushi’s Vivre Card), and Kanjuro knew that Raizo ended up there. Add to this the fact that his ability would enable him to send messages (and the Vivre Card) using his painted creatures.


2 After he was “captured” by Doflamingo’s men. He spent the next few weeks just sitting in a cell. He wasn’t sent back to Kaido or anything? Kaido sent an army led by one of his top men to get Raizo but he just let Joker hold on to Kanjuro?

3 The first time the traitor revealed the alliance’s plans in Wano it could have been anyone, but the second time among the information revealed was the fact that Hiyori is alive and in Ringo, not many people are privileged to that information – Zoro, Kawamatsu, Kin’emon, Raizo, Kikunojo, Inuarashi, Momonosuke, Tenguyama, Kanjuro and some other Straw Hats (some other characters may have learned it off screen but that is not relevant). Through the process of elimination and considering the points 1 and 2, Kanjuro stands out as the most suspicious.

4 This is more of a meta reason, but Kanjuro is the most underdeveloped of the Scabbards even though he was the second to be introduced. The traitor plotline would work well to expand his character and add extra conflict to the Scabbards.

The Numbers of the Beast Pirates

The Numbers are a group of massive people who are associated with Kaido and the Beasts Pirates.The Numbers are comparable in size to giants, utterly dwarfing humans and longarms like Scratchmen Apoo. They all possess two horns on their head, much like Kaido, and two of them carry a spiked club similar to Kaido’s kanabō, thus giving them traits similar to those of the legendary oni. Two of them have been shown with very sharp teeth.

Their physical constitutions vary greatly, with some being taller and slimmer while others are shorter and rounder. One member has a notably long neck. According to Queen, every member of the Numbers has a drinking problem. A child from Hakumai told another child that they would be eaten by the Numbers if spotted, but it is unknown whether that is the truth or a myth. Likewise, he also said that they were from Onigashima, but it is unclear whether he meant that they were native beings of Onigashima or that they were members of the Beasts Pirates who are situated in Onigashima, hence stating that they were from there.

So the Numbers seems to be a species we haven’t seen before or atleast not of a species we know of. Or do we? I have 2 theories:

1: The Numbers are the same species as Oars

The Numbers are clearly tall. They have a demon-like appearance. We know that Moria most likely have been in Wano and there maybe he found Oars’ body.

2: Kaido is the same species as The Numbers

This one is a little weird. But what if Kaido came to Wano because his race (The Numbers) were hunted by World Government and then he found Wano, a country that got almost no contact with the rest of the world. He then came with The Numbers as their leader, and they fought with Kaido to dethrone Oden. Queen also said that The Numbers all have a drinking problems and so do Kaido (and it would explain the horns).

The Unstoppable Alliance between Bigmom And Kaido forms in Wano!

It is revealed by Hiyori that Kozuki Oden used to wield two powerful Meito blades in a style of swordsmanship that was a Daito Nitoryu (literally meaning “Long-Sword Two-Sword Style”): Ame no Habakiri and its sister blade Enma, the latter said to be the only sword that has ever harmed Kaido. Oden gave each blade to each of his children, Momonosuke and Hiyori respectively. The Ame no Habakiri (literally meaning “Snake-Slayer of Heaven/Takamagahara”) is the most famous Totsuka no Tsurugi, appearing in Japanese mythology as a blade used by the Shinto god Susanoo to slay the legendary monster serpent Yamata no Orochi. “Haba” is an archaic term for “snake.” Anyway Zoro accepts Hiyori’s offer to give him Enma in place of Shusui, despite Kawamatsu’s reservations.

In the meantime Law is freed from his imprisonment by a mysterious figure, and he cuts up Hawkins, who reveals that his alliance with Kid and Apoo was blown up due to Apoo secretly working for Kaido since the start. Then we see a shadowy figure who is letting Law escape. He’s probably the same person that allowed Law to break free from his cuffs. But who is he? It has to be X Drake! He was the only other person with Law and Hawkins. Furthermore, Oda recently stated that X Drake has a particular interest in Luffy x Law Alliance. On Onigashima, Kaido and Big Mom have stopped their battle and reveal to King and Queen that they have formed an Alliance to take over the World! As we know, the possibility of two or more of the Yonko forming an alliance was enough of a threat to cause the World Government to panic, as seen when it unsuccessfully attempted to prevent a meeting between Shanks and Whitebeard. The World Government feared that the two Yonko would unify, creating a much more imposing threat that would disrupt the balance between the Great Powers. Will this trigger the arrival of the Marines in Wano? If we remember Kizaru’s reaction to Big Mom and Kaido’s conversation on the den den mushi, we can assume that at least one Admiral will show up at the end of this gigantic conflict. By now, there are only five days remaining before the raid on Onigashima.

The Rox Pirates will reunite this arc. But how?

When the Rox Pirates were first introduced, garp stated that if they were to reunite, it would be beyond our imaginations to do anything about it. And now big mom and kaido have met up.With the way this is going I think that the rox will most likely reunite and that garp's statement at reverie was foreshadowing/hype for what is to come. But if they do reunite, what must happen? Well kaido needs to realize that the supernovas are not just rookies, they are not weak pirates, and they are a threat capable of directly challenging his power.

I think that sometime before the final battle, there will be a major clash in wano kuni in which some of kaido's strongest forces will be defeated by the supernovas. In particular, I think that jack, queen, hawkins, drake, and kyoshiro have a high likelihood of falling and possibly even joining the alliance this won't happen for jack or queen but could happen for the other three. I also think that luffy will be able to fight on par with kaido's base form and possibly even push him to using his hybrid.

In any case, these fights are extremely necessary. We have major characters like: law, kid, zoro, sanji, and maybe killer who have yet to have their time to shine, despite how far we are in the new world. You can't just have kid and law being able to fend off kaido and help luffy beat him if it isn't established that they are strong in the first place. So what happens then? Kaido realizes that the threat of the supernovas is very real and he realizes that luffy has immense potential and if not now, will eventually become a threat to him. He will then call for big mom, bakkin, and possibly other members of the rox to rejoin in order to defeat the members of the worst generation. In turn, I see the worst get getting help from other major factions including: shanks, blackbeard, the marines, or the revolutionaries

This will all culminate in a war that will by far eclipse marineford in terms of importance. Big mom and kaido will be overthrown, luffy and kid will replace them, and blackbeard will take up his former captain's mantle as the new strongest man in the world.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below

X-Drake’s Secret Plan of Pirate Alliance

In the Flower Capital, Law has been captured and Hawkins seems eager to get to work. However, X Drake is apparently acting strangely. Hawkins questions Drake on what he was thinking about. Drake dismisses it, but why?

This might be due to Drake having plans regarding Law and Luffy, something that Oda already mentioned in the Vivre Cards, stating that Drake had a particular interest in their alliance. This could suggest he’s already been planning to team up with them in future. Moreover, Drake is probably greatful for Joker’s defeat. Not farfetched to believe he did bare a grudge for Joker killing his father. He never seemed to hate his father, at least we don’t know that for sure, but he may feel indebted to Luffy and Law. Perhaps, X Drake will repay a debt if he is greatful about Joker’s takedown. Again, I think it’s likely he will be the link between Wano and the Navy.

Reasons Why Wano Lost The War

Previously we were judging Oden's strength based on current nine red scabbard's Ashura Doji, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi who showed strength equivalent/similar to Jack thus placing Oden's strength around Yonko first/second mate or so and while having that kind of strength in Scabbards who were nine people and on top of that Oden and Hyogoro, they should not have lost the war, specially since only four scabbards could deal with Kaido's Top three who were a rather newly formed pirates however previous chapter revealed Ashura Doji, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi were much weaker twenty years ago and the fact that Kinemon was the leader of their group we thought maybe because he was good strategist but it is most likely that Kinemon was actually the strongest of them all nine Scabbards as well and if that were the case then Oden was also weaker than we thought, maybe around current Ashura Doji and so Wano the country of Samurai really did have weaker forces than we originally thought and the whole country losing to Kaido could be justified.

Here are the main reasons:

1- The Beasts Pirates had Kaido. Oden was strong, no doubt, but he's pretty much confirmed to be somewhere in between Roger/Whitebeard and Ashura Doji. If he was as strong as Katakuri, for example, it would already be more than enough to make him the strongest person in Wano, as Ashura Doji was considered the strongest criminal of Wano before being defeated by Oden. This is clearly not even close to enough to take down the WSC.

2- Kaido still had his own "Katakuri" (King) and other two powerful commanders (Queen and Jack), and a few strong "mid tiers" too (The Flying Six, or at least some of them, as X Drake obviously wasn't there, and possibly other strong headliners and allies). Even if they weren't as strong as they are now, they were surely pretty strong already.
3- Oden was backstabbed by Orochi. Not only he had to deal with one of the strongest pirate crews of all time, but also with internal enemies. Many samurai and ninjas, loyal to Orochi, certainly turned against him too.
4- The Red Scabbards didn't even fight, apparently. Orochi somehow captured Oden without notice and his retainers escaped (or were captured) after he was executed. 

Kid will create a mech to fight Kaido

So we know from the fact that kid has a robot arm and from pictures oda drew of kid as a child that kid knows something about robotics. What if kid's big power up this arc is a mech that can keep up with kaido's dragon form.

We know that oda by kaiju in the powers of the beast pirates.
Kaido, being a dragon who is king of the monsters, is obviously inspired by godzilla.
King, being a flaming pteranodon, is inspired by rodan
Orochi is inspired by ghidora, as both are based off the yamata no orochi

Now luffy's boundman with its signature move "Kong gun" and "King kong gun" obviously parallel to king kong, one of godzilla's rivals. Given that kid will be one of the main allies who will help luffy beat kaido, is it possible that he could also have a form based off one of godzilla's rivals.

I think so. Using the vast metal resources at the mines as well as the sea stone craftsmanship of wano kuni, I think that kid could create a mech that is inspired by mechagodzilla. By combining this mech with his own magnetic powers and haki, I think kid will prove to be a valuable member of the alliance and eventually become one of the top tiers of the new generation.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below

Monkey D. Luffy Shows Qualities of a True Pirate King!

Luffy, Chopper, Hyogoro, Raizo, Kikunojo, and Kawamatsu overwhelm the Beasts Pirates, but Daifugo shoots the prisoners with special bullets, which inflict a debilitating virus known as Mummy onto them that is spread through touch.

Daifugo reveals that this virus is one of Queen’s greatest creations. The virus basically eats the person from inside destroying their cells at a rapid speed. The prisoners with broken spirits move to subdue Luffy’s group, but Luffy unexpectedly grabs them and becomes infected.
Luffy then pushes everyone down and tells them to wake up and realize that they are all just slaves. He tells them that their conditions will only worsen the longer Kaido stays in power, and if they want to get out of this, they should not stand in his way. So Luffy manages to persuade the prisoners to rebel against the Beasts Pirates with one of the best speeches he’s ever had in the whole series.

He tells to the prisoners of Udon that giving up on hope and accepting to live in a miserable condition is not a way to live, living life out as a slave isn’t living at all. This just shows how much Luffy has grown as a Leader. His capability to move the hearts of others shows again why he’s the man destined to become the Future Pirate King. In the meantime, Babanuki prepares to fire an Excite Shell into the crowd, but with his incredible future sight, Luffy anticipates it easily. He ties up his elephant’s trunk, causing the shell to explode inside Babanuki. The prisoners then decide to join Luffy and rebel, and they defeat Daifugo as Luffy’s alliance conquers Udon. There are eight days before the final battle against Kaido.

Who Is Going To Be Captured?

Fukurokuju's words might very well come true. "Capture one of them, no matter who it is, the torture will reveal us all their plans..." This scenario is highly likely to happen, someone among the pirate alliance will get captured and tortured. It would explain and show us what happened to Killer and possibly we could see other members of Kidd pirates in torture chambers.

The question, like the title says - Who is going to get captured and tortured?
It could be almost anyone aside from Luffy and those who aren't present in Flower Capital currently. There are few candidates who have the highest chances to get captured and those are the ones that were shown right after Fukurokuju said those words - Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and possibly Law.

Zoro is already injured and with Kyoshiro there it's not an unthinkable scenario that he gets captured. He could possibly handle the torture the best among all candidates but still it would show it's horrors. It might have been foreshadowed even, back in Ebisu town, when people told him he should smile more, he might be fed a Smile fruit... However, he is currently saving Hiyori so it might also not be him.

Usopp getting captured is something likely and theory about his capture already exists. He would be put to a test as a brave man of the seas. We all expect him to spill the beans fast and he even agreed in discussion with Nami but the opposite might happen. He is currently saving O-Toko so it also might not be him.

Sanji is what looks to me the most likely candidate because he isnt saving anyone currently and while Usopp fled the scene with O-Toko it seems like Zoro is fleeing too with Hiyori while Sanji remains in the clash with X-Drake and gets worked up because he called him a Vinsmoke. I expect the torture to trigger whatever modifications that werent triggered when Judge did those experiments on his children.

Another likely candidate could be Law. It seems like he is in a helpless situation considering that Hawkins has life links with his crew and Bepo's location is unknown... I expected him to get captured back then together with Luffy but it's not too late and Hawkins said he would be joining the prison soon. Not sure what to expect from Law's torture...

Chopper The Savior

Well i was thinking about the Smile thing all people are talking about. I have a theory that Chopper is going to cure all the people when Wano Arc ends. 2 are the main reasons:

1) The first reason is that even the Wano people get their freedom after Kaido's defeat, the tragedy of the Smile fruit will still exist and i don't think this is a proper way for the arc to end. Wano people need to express their feelings on their face!!

2) The second reason is that with the cure of the people by Chopper will evolve him as a doctor. People are talking about Strawhat's power up, but i think that Chopper's power up will be this. The recognition of Chopper's curing abilities by the whole world.

But what do you guys think?
   

Koushirou/Zoro’s Connection with Wano Has Been Confirmed!

Recently we have learned that Zoro has taught Momonosuke a unusual word to shout when training his sword skill and that word is “snatch”. Momonosuke is immediately told not to use that word because in the old Kuri Dialect there was a yell like that as well and it is not befitting of someone with Momosuke’s status. In the panel you will notice they show Zoro in a scary pose and there is sweat coming down O-Kiku’s face as she warns Momosuke not to use that word implying that she is really downplaying how big of deal it really is for him to use that word. The other thing we can take away from this is that she says “it may just be coincidence” but from a writing stand point you are just not going to say this unless it is most certainly not a coincidence, this is foreshadowing.

Kiku’s reaction to “snatch” made me think of word taboos in ancient China or Japan. People would avoid words that were associated with negative things or bad luck and some of these superstitions are still present today, for example avoiding the number 4 because it sounds like “death”.

From there I came up with a theory:

Maybe the “snatch” yell is related to an ancient samurai clan that inhabited Kuri a long time ago – definitely before Kiku’s time 20 years ago. It could have been that clan’s trademark shout or battle cry, being described as “a way to strengthen your heart when your courage falters”.
The clan later became infamous/was exterminated for whatever reason, and everything connected to it, including their distinctive yell, became taboo for the people of Wano, who started to avoid anything related to them out of fear of bad luck or repercussions. So “snatch” became a forbidden word.

What if the survivors of that clan, exiled or fleeing from Wano, ended up in the East Blue and are Koshiro’s ancestors? That would explain why Koshiro, a dōjo master in a remote village in the weakest sea, had one of the 21 Ō Wazamono swords. Zoro must have learned that yell and the meaning associated to it from the person who trained him– Koshiro. Zoro himself can’t be from Wano because Oda repeatedly stated he was born in the East Blue, but we know nothing of Koshiro’s family origins.

This would give Koshiro and Kuina a Wano ancestry, and give Zoro a further connection to Wano through them and Wadō Ichimonji. The last chapter has just revealed Yasu’s real name. Back when the Kozuki Family ruled over Wano Country, Yasu served as the daimyo of Hakumai. His real name is Shimotsuki Yasuie. Shimotsuki is also the name of the village Zoro grew up in! This confirms the connection between Koshiro and Wano. In the image below you can also notice the symbol of cross swords. The same symbol we already saw on Koshiro’s clothes!

The Shocking Truth of the SMILEs Devil Fruits Revealed!

In the last chapter we see Yasu is shot and killed by Orochi and his forces. Upon arriving at the scene, Zoro is baffled to see the residents of Ebisu Town laughing hysterically. Hiyori then reveals to him that they have been stripped of the ability to do anything else thanks to Kaido bringing SMILE to this country. The people of Ebisu Town can only smile because of the SMILE fruits.

So we can assume that you need stolen emotions to create SMILEs. Only happines wasn’t stolen from the people. You can see the affected people only smiling. That would explain the name “smiles”. And it explains now the name of the SAD-tanks in Punk Hazard. What is in the SAD-tanks? We saw Law destroying the tanks and we can clearly see some green liquid, which you need to create smiles. Those liquid could be those stolen negative emotions. That’s why it is called “SAD”.

But why stolen emotions?
In chapter 184 we saw the first time an object with a devil fruit. Usopp stated: “That’s ridiculous. It’s not as if the devil fruit has a will of its own.” There are some theories that say the devil fruits own a soul. I think this could be very true. The devil fruit-object fusion has a strong parallel with Big Mom’s soul ability to create Homies. Giving a dead object a soul and it becomes a living thing.
For SMILEs you need emotions! It’s like a lower version of a soul. But you can’t steal happiness. Maybe that’s the reason why smiles are incomplete and not quite work, like an original devil fruit. Only Vegapunk was able to create one SMILE that was working 100%. It was the SMILE that Momonosuke ate. Now I come to the speculative part, and it’s very very speculative, so don’t be too hard to me.

Momonosuke’s SMILE worked perfectly. So which emotions could be in the artificial fruit? It’s the perfect copy of Kaido’s devil fruit. Could it be that Kaido’s emotions were stolen from Vegapunk? Maybe his happiness was stolen too. I know we saw Kaido with emotional outbursts and we saw him cry. That happens only when he’s drunk. Could be a side-effect. I’m not sure about this, but I think it’s worth to mention. Sidenote: We have two strong connections between Vegapunk, Kaido and Big Mom.

The devil fruit-object transfer is like the ability from Big Mom to create Homies.
Vegapunk invented the first SMILE, which is a copy of Kaido’s devil fruit.
We know that Vegapunk can study devil fruits and can turn it into technology. Like Kizaru’s lasers within the Pacifistas.

What if Vegapunk studied Big Mom’s and Kaido’s devil fruits in the past and that’s the basis for his inventions. He could share a part of his past with Big Mom and Kaido and maybe had a connection with Rocks, where he was able lay his hands an those two. That could be the reason why Orochi wants Vegapunk from CP0 so badly. We also know that Vismoke Judge worked with Vegapunk. He did experiments on his own children to make them more powerful. The Vismoke siblings have now powers like Zoan Users, but they didn’t lose their ability to swim. And they lost their emotions and emphaty, except Sanji. This could be connected with the SMILE-emotion topic.

What do you think guys?

Strawhat will leave Wano before being captured by Kaido!

Now that Luffy was one-shotted by Kaido,  I believe he will realize that in his current state he has no chance of beating of Kaido. So Luffy needs a power up and some kind of confidence boost, this is why I believe Luffy will need to leave Wano for that. Now to start with, I don’t think Luffy will be captured by Kaidou. I think Luffy will escape Kaidou either with Law or Shutenmaru’s help. The best way I think this will be possible is Law using Room to switch places with Luffy once he is being taken in by Kaidou’s underlings. This is where Luffy’s sword comes in handy. Since Luffy is wearing a sword, Law can switch places with his sword. Thereby he will be having his weapon with him in prison.  feel that after Luffy wakes up, he will see that Tama is in really bad health and Chopper does not have the skill within him to heal her. Seeing her in that state will make Luffy realise that all this was his fault and he needs to do something to save her. I think here is where Inuarashi will tell Luffy that Tama can be saved if he takes her to MARCO the Phoenix. I believe Marco will be able to heal Tama with his “Flames of Rebirth”. Also, note that the cat which he heals is also named Tama. Could this be a foreshadowing that he will heal her?

Going to Marco will serve quite a few purposes:

1. Tama will get healed. The first one is obvious because that is the main reason for the visit.

2. Luffy will see Ace’s grave. Since Marco is in the same Island Ace and Whitebeard are buried, it stands within reason that Luffy will go to see Ace’s grave. I believe that seeing Ace’s grave will strengthen his resolve to pursue his dream. Just like it did for Sabo.
3. Luffy will fulfill Ace’s promise to Tama. Since Luffy has taken Tama to another Island, he will partly fulfill Ace’s promise to her.

4. Luffy will get a power-up. I believe once there Luffy will find someone who I think will teach him how to awaken his Devil Fruit. It could be someone from Whitebeard Pirates, maybe Marco himself, or a former Roger Pirate like Scopper Gaban.
5. Chopper’s dream. I believe seeing Marco curing Tama, will give Chopper a clue about his dream to make his miracle cure for all diseases.

6. Edward Weevil. One of the most important things about this arc is Luffy’s encounter with the final Shichibukai. I think Weevil will somehow find out about where Marco is by someone following Luffy in his journey to Marco. In any case, I think he will arrive there after Luffy learns the theory in awakening his Devil Fruit.
Weevil will then obliterate everyone around and since Marco is healing Tama, I think he cannot take part in the battle. So it will be up to Luffy to stop him. In this fight, I think Luffy will learn how to use awakening or any other power up.

7. New Allies to war. After this battle, I think Weevil will become a friend of Luffy. And might even help in the battle against Kaidou. Because personally, Weevil does not seem to be bad. It’s only because of his mother that he was killing the former Whitebeard allies.
Also since Luffy beats Weevil and saves the people of the Island, Marco might also join the crew.
Further, Luffy could meet Gekko Moriah here. He could have been the one who might have tipped Weevil about Luffy being here. And in the distraction, he would try to steal Ace and Whitebeard’s bodies. But ultimately with his plans in ruin and seeing how Luffy is prepared to fight Kaidou, he might join the alliance as well.
Anyway, this could be in a way Luffy making a lot of allies. Since Luffy will have 2 weeks time, I think will be the best way Luffy can get stronger and get a few allies to his war against Kaidou. Also since it is Law who gets captured, he could secretly convince Kidd to join his alliance in the prison.

Viceroy Kaido is going to capture Strawhats

In the recent chapters the Kaido of the Beasts appears in his dragon form. He destroys Oden’s castle with devastating fire breath. That got me thinking, he looks too strong and invincible. I think, right now, there’s no way that Luffy and company can even scratch him. In one of the last page of the previous chapter we saw that the beam that Kaido shoots is going to hit the Straw Hat crew, there’s no way they can avoid that.

Luffy immediately responds by punching him in the head with Elephant Gun. The face of Kaido looks like he’s going to say in the next chapter “oh, a big fly, gtfo.” I mean, look at the difference of size, Kaido is huge. In my opinion Kaido will proceed to mess the Straw Hats up pretty bad, putting Luffy’s life at risk. Luffy’s life being at risk will cause his Vivre Card to start to fade, drawing the attention of the Grand Fleet to Wano.

This is where the mass of Luffy’s forces will come from for this war. Though I believe the real fun comes when we flash back to Reverie after Luffy has been captured by Kaido. Sabo will be in the middle of his plan to attack the Celestial Dragons when he notices his brother’s Vivre Card fading. This will cause the plans to go awry. What happens from here I can’t say it’s to unpredictable. But if these sequences of events unfold we should be in for one hell of a ride.

Kozuki Hiyori’s real Identity

Here is how I think it went down! First, it was shown for a fact that excluding oden and toki, there were nine other graves! That simply clearly points towards the fact that the nine people that toki talked about were not the strawhats, and not supernova captains, and not nine samurai who wield swords. But rather toki simply talked about the 9 people she sent into the future that they will bring down orochi!

Okay, first let's discuss the options that toki has done to hiyori! Shall we? There are simply four possibilities that could have happened to hiyori!

1. First option, is that toki let hiyori stay in the same timeline. And I'm sorry, that is just nonsense for three reasons: first, there is no way that she would let her stay in this dangerous place to die while transporting others to future and not include her daughter hahaha. Secondly, because toki was shown alone when she gave the speech about the 9 people who will bring down orochi! Sure it was a silhouette, but still she was shown standing alone in the fire! And third, hiyori is an important member of the 9 who toki hinted at who will take down orochi, so she wouldn't stay in the same timeline to die!

2. The second option, toki sent hiyori into the same future and time as momo's group. Now, that would be impossible, because of one fact, she was not next to them just like that other samurai with the hat (and probably other members at different locations being sent). In any case, momo, kinemon, raizo, kanjuro, and kiku, they all were transported into the same future, and they basically were standing on the same location, which was oden castle when they were being transported, so that's why they were in the same place, and if hiyori was sent into the same future as momo's group, she would have appeared next to them! So, that option is out of the question to me!

3. The third option, toki sent hiyori into the future but a future that is after momo's time. Meaning, she still did not arrive! Cause she will appear in the future still. Now, that is not a convincing logic for toki to do it. Why would she do that? It would not make any sense at all. First, that will make her unlikely to be part of the 9 people she talked about cause she will not take part in the upcoming event, same as the other samurai group who came with her. Secondly, oda will have no reason to invent a character like this who will take no part! Like, it does not add up to me! That's why I do not consider this option to be at any case a good option to pull off, but who knows!

4. Lastly, the 4th option is that toki sent hiyori into the future, but a future that is before momo's group arrival. That simply first would explain why hiyori did not appear next to momo's group, same as that other samurai with the hat who probably appeared next to hiyori at the same spot and time to look after her as well as some other group of samurai retainers (not inuarashi and nekumamushi cause they were not among the ones who were sent into future by toki, so they are not among the people who had graves)! Second thing, it would make sense for toki to send her either with momo's group and wait until they are ready for war, or send her before momo! And I'm talking about this because of hiyori's age, which from how it looks, momo looks like the older brother while hiyori might be even way younger!

And if that's that case, and her age is like 2 years old for example, then she will make a huge burden for momo's group to wage a war, and they will have to look after her cause people at that young age will simply render them! And I'm not talking about momo, cause at least momo can realize what is danger and he can run away, he can hold a stick, he can talk...Etc! Those might be things that hiyori still didn't manage to have where she is at a very early age that people need to carry her, and feed her, and protect her as a child. It's why she was being carried by toki in that panel! So, the best option I think toki would do is to actually make her travel into a future that is before momo's arrival, so that when momo arrives, she actually has grown a bit to where she can not be of a huge burden!

Note: I also think because of o-tama's age when she was sent into the future before momo, she was at very early age, people like heitetsu and the person with that hat and so on, the group that were transported with o-tama, they might have hidden the fact about her being hiyori and they told her she's o-tama cause kids spill the beans very easily. I mean look at doffy for example who spilled the beans about being a cilistial dragon very easily to the citizens which got them into huge trouble! That is why the treatment towards o-tama were different from the treatment with momo who was already aware for what's happening during his age! And o-tama was being taught by heitetsu and other group of samurai who came with her that kozuki clan are good people while orochi is bad, and they are enemy! It's why she has those kinds of value, and it's why despite the public being fooled that the kozuki are dead, she is one of those who believe that kozuki clan will come back and take back their place from orochi, and that simply was being taught to her by heitetsu and the group of people who came into her timeline. Which is why she knows this stuff, but simply she doesn't know the full truth that she traveled in time as well, and that she's from kozuki and she's oden's daughter because she was too small as a child to understand and someone like heitetsu was hiding this info from her cause she was not ready yet!

That's my full belief on the hiyori matter!

In Defence of Wano

Let's get something out lf the way: "If you find the pacing has been slow and not much is happening. Then you might be confusing bad pacing with what you want to see happening this early in the arc."Pacing has always been awkward in One Piece. The arcs have a tendency to drag for a long time and you probably heard a lot of readers complain about it. This happens because Oda typically choses to create multiple subplots tying into something nice when the climax arrives. At the start of a new arc. Oda has a tendency to take his time to develop the setting and new characters before the plot starts unfolding. It usually involves the straw hats exploring the island and meeting new characters. Nothing too important usually happens during these first chapters but everything that's introduced during that period ends up playing a role in the arc.

Although Wano has been a little different so far. Things have been happening ever ever since Luffy set foot on the Island. It may sound exciting but turns out a lot of readers are a bit disappointed. The main reason being they would like to know a bit more about the island and it's characters before things really start heating. Basically what seems to lack is the traditional exploration phase.

I believe there are two things we should be paying attention to:
1) Are we getting a satisfactory amount of development for wano as an island and for the new characters?
2) Is there any reason why Oda would delibaritaly want to "rush things" a little from a story telling perspective?
The first chapters confirmed that Wano is definitely the land of Japanese culture (which is something most OP readers are probably famillar with). We also knew a little about the people and the political climate of Wano through kinemon and his friends. We therefore had a rough idea of what to expect from the island and its people before the arc really started (more specifically we knew what to expect in terms of visuals, politics and the type of new characters we might encounter (samurai, ninjas etc) which is more than we know when we usually start an arc).

This means Oda was able to get into discovering new characters right away without losing us in terms of understanding the setting.
The new characters (following the Japanese culture theme as expected) gave us an idea of what the the civilization of Wano was like (samurai, geisha, ninja, yokai, sumo etc). Civilization being an important part of world building, Oda hit two bird with one stone since these different characters also ended up tying into the main plot directly.

One might argue that Oda could've spent more time developing the newly introduced characters (O-Kiku). Sure, but what kind of development are we talking about? Are we expecting Kiku to start a monologue about her tragic backstory or her favorite customers from the tea shop?
This type of development would most likely be out of place at this point.
On the other hand, seeing a character in action gives as much about the character's personality than dialogue (if not more).
The events with O-Kiku and the Yokozuna gave us a good idea of how Wano works as a society. It seems like the strong can claim whatever he wants as his, women probably don't have much rights and nothing is more important than honor (as we've seen with Tama and now with the sumo).

As said earlier, Oda would usually take his time before involving the straw hats in dangerous situations and let each of them explore the island creating multiple subplots tying into one big climax at the end. Wano also follows this usual arc structure with one difference: Luffy (and Zoro) got into trouble right at the start leaving no time to explore the island peacefully to Luffy and the readers.
This turn of events left a lot of readers feeling like things are being rushed and that Wano is not getting the proper introduction it diserves. It's perfectly understandable. If you made it this far into One Piece it's very likely that you appreciate the exploration bits and Oda's very meticulous world building. And if you think about it, it's very likely that Oda really enjoys and appreciates world building and the early arc exploration scenes as well.

So why rush things at one of the most anticipated arc of the series? It's not like him to worry about the length of the arcs and I'm pretty sure the editors are smart enough to understand the appeal of One Piece after such a long time.
So why? (and now we're getting into question 2)
Is there any reason why Oda would delibaritaly want to "rush things" a little from a story telling perspective?
As we've seen earlier, it's not like Oda is completely skipping world building and the development of Wano as island. But it's definitely different to what we previously got.
I believe that Oda had a really good (or at least interesting) reason to write the arc like this.

One of the main purpose of world building is to help the reader understand what it's like and how it feels to be in the fictional world for the characters.

How Oda likes to do it is through pure, simple and fun exploration. The One Piece world is a generally a Wonderland waiting to be discovered. Exploration is therefore the most fitting way of having Luffy interact with the world around him.
It's also the best way for to show the readers that the world of One Piece is wonderful and exciting until the villains come into play. The readers get to experience it just like the characters.

Wano is another of those wonderful islands. Like always there are beautiful places to discover, strong people to challenge and beautiful woman to meet, new species of animals to interact with (or eat), a rich history to learn about, interesting architecture to admire and maybe even good music to hear.

Yet, there's also something off about Wano. something that doesn't belong in this Japanese themed paradise. Something that will coincidentally interfere with Luffy's exploration and lastly something that will most likely be the embodiment of the occupation and persecution themes of this arc.
Obviously I'm talking about the Beast Pirates.
While Luffy could be having a great time exploring the island like he usually does with his new friend Tama; The beast Pirate have been inferefering with his adventure constantly.
Either directly by confronting him in combat or indirectly by polluting the water (which poisoned his new
friend) and deteriorating the environment Luffy could be enjoying peacefully. Not to mention they ended up kidnapping Tama right after she healed.

Now that doesn't sound like a very pleasant day so far does it?

Well that's exactly the point!

Luffy peacefully enjoying the island wouldn't be a correct representation of what it's like to live in Wano because Wano is NOT at peace.

Sure most of the islands Luffy visits aren't truly peaceful but the people of these islands usually live in the illusion that everything is good (think Dressrosa). But Wano is different. Wano is currently under the occupation of what's supposed to be the most violent pirate crew of the world (as seen on Zou).

In a way, the Beast Pirates have been keeping Luffy from taking his time to visit the island as he traditionally does at the beginning of a new arc.
That must be very frustrating for him as he loves the exploration phase and it's also frustrating to the readers that things are going so fast after such long wait.

But that's exactly the point.

If good world building involves showing the readers what it feels like to live in the imaginary world, then it makes perfect sense that the introduction to the Wano arc feels frustrating beacuse living in Wano under the occupation of the beast pirates IS frustrating.

To a certain extent (and here's where it gets far-fetched), Kaido's crew aren't only interfering with Luffy's adventure but with our reading experience as well. As if their constant interventions in this arc were part of a scheme to take the adventure bits away from us. (As discussed earlier they're behind everything that's been moving the plot so fast). Which makes our experience of the story oddly similar to Luffy's experience of Wano. The adventure we crave for is taken away from us by the same people. Keeping us from discovering the true nature of what could be a wonderful island. And with that reading, what we're having right now is a whole new level of immersion (which should be the goal of world building).

This would mean that Oda used one of his tools as a story teller (pacing) in an unconventional way to convey a feeling he couldn't have with his traditional approach to world building. Which is a true display of creativity.