In Chapter 628 of One Piece, we’re
told for the very first time about a mysterious character called Joy Boy.
And over time, he’s turned into maybe the single most important character
in the entire story next to Luffy So let’s dig in to every single thing we know about Joy Boy for a fact as well as
everything that has been hinted at. Why do we know only so
little about this character? Well, not having knowledge about Joy
Boy is actually by design because this person lived around 800 years ago.
People who know One Piece know that these dates line up perfectly with a
time period called the Void Century. The Void Century is an entire one hundred years
of history that’s just…gone. The World Government, the organization that controls the entire
One Piece world, eliminated every shred of information and history connected to
this time period. Almost nothing at all remains. No archaelogoical ruins, no books,
it’s all just vanished with barely a trace. Except for one big exception,
of course: The Poneglyphs. These big indestructible blocks are scattered across
the world in a mysterious language. One of the only people in the entire world that knows
how to read the poneglyphs is Nico Robin, the archaeologist of the Straw Hat pirates. And it’s thanks to Robin reading a poneglyph
that we first heard the name Joy Boy in the series. While the crew was on Fishman Island,
Robin read a poneglyph there and told us that it described a promise between Joy Boy
and Poseidon from over 800 years ago. Poseidon is one of the ancient weapons and their
power is always reincarnated through the Fishman Royalty of Fishman Island. Whoever holds the
power of Poseidon can command the Sea Kings, gigantic, super powerful sea creatures. Right now the power of Poseidon belongs to
the Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi, who Luffy saved during the Fishman Island arc
- always leave it to Luffy to save a princess. The promise between Joy Boy and Poseidon 800
years ago had something to do with using the Sea Kings to lift up the massive ark called the Noah
that sits at the bottom of the sea. It probably involves bringing the fishmen to live among the
surface along with the other races of the One Piece world. However, for an unknown reason, Joy
Boy was unable to hold up his side of the deal. The poneglyph isn’t actually just a historical
record - it’s an apology to Fishman Island. It was also around this same time that Joy Boy was
also partners with Zunesha - a massive elephant. And I mean MASSIVE - Zunesha is confirmed to be
35 km tall - that means Zunesha is 3 times higher than a Sky Island. Zunesha is SO big in fact, that
a whole island lives on top of him. The minks, a race of animal/human hybrids, built their
country Zou right on top of this giant elephant. The crazy thing is that 800 years after
the Void Century, Zunesha is still alive and kicking and has even communicated with
Luffy. Zunesha doesn’t literally talk - he communicates with other characters through
a mysterious power called the Voice of All Things. This power is also supposedly the
way that Roger was able to “read” poneglyphs without knowing how to actually translate the
writing. The thing is though - that entire 800 years, Zunesha wasn’t freely walking
around the ocean. He was doing time. That’s right - this elephant is a criminal. 800
years ago after committing an unknown crime, Zunesha was sentenced to walk a certain
path in the ocean continually for all that time. It was only once Momonosuke
gave him the order to do something else that he could. For some reason,
Momonosuke, the Shogun of Wano, has the power to communicate with Zunesha as well
as even give orders to this gigantic creature. There are only two more things that are
confirmed pieces of info about Joy Boy. First off, Joy Boy is the one who really left
behind the treasure known as One Piece. The series started off with the Pirate King
Gol D. Roger telling the world that he left a treasure behind, but the truth is
more complicated than that. In reality, at the end of his journey, Roger actually found
some kind of object of enormous importance that was left behind by Joy Boy. On this island,
Roger learned the truth of the ancient history and the Void Century and wished that he
could have been alive in Joy Boy’s time. The mysterious treasure that Joy Boy left
behind caused Roger to laugh like crazy, leading him to name this island Laugh Tale.
He also revealed that for some reason, he arrived at Laugh Tale too early.
There goes Oda being mysterious again. We’re not sure why Roger was “too
early” in arriving to Laugh Tale, but it probably has to do
with Joy Boy’s second coming. That’s right - Joy Boy’s coming back. According
to a long-held prophecy, Joy Boy would be reincarnated 800 years after the Void Century -
or 20 years after Roger reached Laugh Tale. This prophecy is known in part thanks to a character
named Kozuki Oden, the former shogun of Wano Country. The Kozuki Clan in ancient times were
the ones who actually wrote the poneglyphs. Oden sailed with Gol D. Roger to Laugh Tale and kept a
logbook of their travels. Roger and Oden learned that they’d arrived “too early”, but that in
20 years Joy Boy would return to Wano. This led Oden to make his goal of opening Wano’s
borders to welcome Joy Boy in 20 years’ time. And the second Joy Boy…is none other than Monkey
D. Luffy. That’s right - our main character Luffy is the second coming of the legendary hero Joy
Boy. During the fight with the Emperor of the Sea, Kaidou, Luffy awakened a new power. What Luffy
calls “Gear 5” is actually the awakening of his devil fruit. After all of these years in the
series, we learned that Luffy’s devil fruit wasn’t actually the rubber fruit - it was a super
powerful fruit called the Sun God Nika fruit. We still don’t know much about the deity the Sun
God Nika, but we can guess that it’s connected to Joyboy in some way. When Luffy transformed his
hair and clothes turned all white and he couldn’t stop laughing. He also gained new powers this
are seemingly only limited by his imagination. When Luffy first appeared in this new form,
he was also jumping across the battlefield silhouetted by the moon. This mirrors the very
first time we learned about the Sun God Nika from Kaidou’s subordinate Who’s Who.
He tells that when he was in prison, fellow inmates would tell hopeful tales
of a liberator called the Sun God Nika. During this explanation, we also saw a figure
with a similar silhouette to Gear 5 Luffy. However, when Luffy awakend this form,
Zunesha, the giant elephant said something fascinating. He said he could hear the “drums
of liberation” seemingly referring to Luffy’s heartbeat. He the announced that “Joy
Boy had returned.” Clearly Luffy, Joy Boy, and Nika are all closely related somehow. It’s ironic that Luffy awakened this form while
fighting with Kaidou because it seemed that Kaidou was trying to find Joy Boy or possibly
even trying to become Joy Boy himself. It’s hinted that he might have chosen Wano as his
base because the prophecy hinted that Joy Boy would appear there. Kaidou’s right-hand man,
King, had told him the legends of Joy Boy long ago and Kaidou seemed to become fascinated
with the prophecy and legends of Joy Boy. Kaidou almost defeated Luffy several times
during their battle. After one defeat, he dropped Luffy into the sea, stating “So, you couldn’t be Joy Boy either.” Clearly
Kaidou had seen others try and fail to fill the role of Joy Boy. It might the case that
Kaidou himself failed at becoming “Joy Boy.” Even after seeing Kaidou’s flashbacks, much of
his past is mysterious. It would seem that he was obsessed with being the strongest, with
creating warfare all across the world. Being the World’s Strongest Creature, it seemed that
his crew followed the rule of “Survival of the Fittest.” However, it seems that another goal
of his was to find Joy Boy all along. After all, part of the prophecy of Joy Boy’s return
involved Wano Country and its borders opening. Wano Country had closed borders for years and
was isolated from the rest of the world. Joy Boy - someone who spreads joy or happiness - and
the Sun God Nika, who represents freedom - as well as the drums of liberation: All of these are
connected in ways we can’t quite see yet. However, since it’s still such a mystery that gives the
fan base a huge opportunity to make awesome theories about how Joy Boy will play a part
in the story. And if you don’t want to miss any updates on Joy Boy and one piece in general,
you should make sure to subscribe to the channel. But before we talk about speculation, we’ll look
at a likely origin for Joy Boy. Oda might actually be drawing on history when creating the idea of
Joy Boy in One Piece. The idea likely comes from a Haitian God called…well, Joyboy. In Vodou beliefs,
Joyboy is a God of hope and music. It’s likely that Joyboy was originally an African God that was
brought to the Caribbean during the slave trade. This God is said to spread laughter and joy with
drumming and dancing - which would seem to connect to the idea of the “drums of liberation.”
This God also gave hope to enslaved people, which would seem to parallel what we’ve
been told about Sun God Nika in the story, who is a symbol of hope for
enslaved people in One Piece. And to some fans, it seems like Joy Boy
and his huge significance have come out of nowhere. However, we all know that Oda
is the master of foreshadowing and left us a lot of clues. We already mentioned that Joy
Boy was originally mentioned in a poneglyph all the way back on Fishman Island, but we’ve
been getting plenty of hints before that, too. In Skypiea, when Luffy was seen silhouetted
in front of a bonfire in a pose that looks just like the Sun God Nika. Oda has even said
that it was one of his favorite panels of the whole series. In that same arc, the Shandians
worshipped a Sun God. The Giants also worship a Sun God. And the Sun Pirates, who were formed
by former slaves, wear the mark of the Sun - an early hint about slaves praying to the Sun God
Nika for freedom. All of these oppressed people are awaiting the “Dawn of the World” - a Dawn
that can only come with the arrival of the Sun. Now that we’ve been over all the
things we know for sure about Joy Boy, I want to take some time to talk
about the craziest theories about this legendary character. First off - did
the original Joy Boy also wear a Straw Hat? In a frozen cellar in Mariejois,
the capital of the world government, the secret ruler of the world government,
Imu keeps a massive Straw Hat. Why? Did this secret object belong to the first Joy
Boy? And what then is the significance of the smaller straw hat that was passed
from Roger to Shanks and then to Luffy? Also, what did Joy Boy do that was so
significant? We have so little information about him that it’s hard to say what he might
have done. Could he have been the ruler of the Ancient Kingdom that went up against the World
Government? The story has recently revealed that the Ancient Kingdom was technologically
advanced - if Joy Boy was its ruler, could he have had control over the Ancient
Weapons? Holding that kind of power would be enough to make the World Government fearful as
well as jealous. I mean, could Joy Boy have even created the Ancient Weapons…well, if
he’s much like Luffy probably not. And speaking of that advanced technology that
Dr. Vegapunk has revealed existed in the Ancient Kingdom - what connection does Joy Boy have
to their mysterious power source? Does Joy Boy have something to do with the giant robot that
scaled the Red Line and tried to attack Mariejois 200 years ago? We’ve only just learned about
this powerful weapon of the Ancient Kingdom, but it seems pretty convenient that at
the same time it attacked Mariejois, Fishmen were starting to fight for their rights.
Does the mysterious technology of Joy Boy’s Ancient Kingdom have something to do with people
fighting for liberation or the coming “dawn”? Was he the world’s first pirate? Maybe
he was a literal pirate king - not in the sense that Roger was pirate king,
having achieved all a pirate could hope to achieve. Joy Boy might have been a
the actual ruler of a pirate kingdom. It would make a load of sense then why the
World Government would try to erase his existence. He was their enemy in their war for
supremacy over the One Piece world. In addition, if he was a pirate it would make sense that
the World Government would outlaw piracy, even against pirates who
don’t steal or harm people. Did he seek a similar dream to Luffy, wanting
to spread freedom and joy wherever he went? Did he unite all the oppressed races of the One
Piece world? If Joy Boy or the Sun God Nika are beacons of hope for enslaved people, perhaps
his dream was to bring people together and prevent discrimination. For instance, the
promise the the Fishmen might have been to use the Noah to bring them to the surface so
that they could live under the sun alongside humans. Perhaps the minks wouldn’t have to
hide on Zunesha’s back anymore and could also step into the light. Maybe Luffy will be able to
keep the promise that the original Joy Boy broke. And if the original Joy Boy had a giant straw hat
- does that mean that Joy Boy was a giant? And if he lived that long ago…could he have been an
ancient giant? In fact, there’s some pretty strong evidence that Joy Boy could be Oars - the giant
zombie that the Warlord Gekko Moriah revived. After all, if Joy Boy had a giant elephant,
shouldn’t he himself be giant, too? And maybe it was more than a coincidence that Luffy’s shadow
ended up in Oars. But if that’s not convincing, then you might just need to check out this video
all about how Joy Boy was an ancient giant!
