Highlights
- With One Piece entering its final phase, the World Government’s top villains, Imu and the Elders, take the spotlight.
- Egghead Island arc is full of traitors, including Stussy and York betraying Vegapunk and causing chaos.
- Possible traitor among the Five Elders, with signs pointing towards Saint Shepherd Ju Peter’s suspicious behavior.
With One Piece entering its final phase, the biggest of all villains are now going to be in the spotlight. Of course, these are those of the World Government, especially Imu and his Elders. Fans know them to be incredibly powerful, and at the same time, a major force that completely changed the face of the Earth around 800 years ago.
Right now, they are still standing, and causing all sorts of problems for Luffy and all the other pirates of the new generation who are dead set on getting to the truth and potentially changing the world forever. While the Five Elders have certainly been portrayed as a tightly knit group, there might actually be a hole in there, and this hole could very well be a traitor within their ranks. This might be hard for fans to believe, but there are enough hints to suggest that this is actually a solid possibility.
The Traitor Theme In Egghead
The Egghead Island Arc Is Full Of Traitors
When it comes to the Egghead Island arc, there have been traitors everywhere in the story. The very first traitor fans actually got to see in the story arc was Stussy. She came with the CP0 but ended up betraying them, because she was actually loyal to Vegapunk, given that she was a clone created by him. She was the very first traitor that the fans saw. However, she certainly was not the last. After Stussy, there was another traitor, and actually the biggest one in the arc so far who was revealed to the fans after a tantalizing wait. This traitor was within the ranks of Vegapunk himself, and it turned out to be York, the Greed part of his personality.
Hey Stella, you know what? I’m gonna be a Celestial Dragon!
York turned out to be a big traitor and she had actually been in contact with the Government. She wanted to be a Celestial Dragon, and for that reason, she gave away all information pertaining to Vegapunk’s research and his secret studies to the Government. She was the one responsible for leading the Cipher Pol investigation on Egghead, and also why Egghead was targeted in the first place. If that wasn’t enough, York was also responsible for stealing the Mother Flame and delivering it safely to the Government, which subsequently led to the destruction of the Lulusia Kingdom.
Clearly, fans have already seen two traitors in this arc but, it is also possible that there is one more and this one could actually belong to the ranks of the Five Elders. Given that Oda likes to associate themes with certain arcs, the theme of this arc could very well be traitors, and it would certainly be very exciting if that were to be the case.
Vegapunk’s Knowledge Of Mother Flame And A Government Attack
Vegapunk Had Prior Information Of The Government’s Attack
The idea of a traitor within the ranks of the Five Elders doesn’t stem from absolutely nothing. It isn’t just because there have been traitors in this arc so that must mean there will be another traitor here. There’s actually a solid premise for this argument to exist. For one, fans need to keep in mind that in One Piece chapter 1116, something very strange happened. Vagapunk mentioned that he knew that a piece of Mother Flame was stolen from him. According to York, he should not have known that because she did not upload that part of her memory to the Punk Records. Stella usually only finds out what every Vegapunk is doing when they sync together at the end of the day. Because Vegapunk knew that the piece of Mother Flame was stolen from him and delivered to the Government, things start getting interesting. In fact, York herself started questioning as to how it was possible for Vegapunk to know.
Hey, wait…That doesn’t make sense, Stella! How did you know I stole the Mother Flame from you? I stopped synchronizing! You couldn’t have known! And I know you’re terrible at lying!
York even mentions that Vegapunk was surprised when York revealed herself to him. She started second guessing everything and even assumed that Vegapunk was actually acting when he was captured by her, and that he actually knew all this beforehand. York found it hard to believe that Vegapunk would do that because he’s a terrible actor, but the implication here is clearly that Vegapunk was already aware of what was going on around him through some external source.
The conclusion that York comes to here is that Vegapunk had to have known from someone else. He couldn’t have taken readings from Lulusia without actually knowing that something was going to happen there. Without external information, there is absolutely no way he could have come to this conclusion. Another interesting thing to note here is that Vegapunk hid the transponder snail. If he felt that nobody would be coming to the island, he would not go to such lengths to hide the transponder snail.
Once again, this is something that was confirmed by York herself. She clearly mentions that he would not have hidden the transponder snail like he did had he not known about an incoming attack from the Government. The fact that he hid the transponder snail suggests that he had prior knowledge of what was going to happen. All this then ties well to Vegapunk’s conversation with Dragon, where he clearly mentioned that he feels that he is going to die.
The Traitor Among The Five Elders
The Five Elders Could Have An Obvious Traitor
Given how all things have played out, it is entirely possible for there to be a traitor within the ranks of the World Government. Now, this could be anyone, and it could even be a simple Celestial Dragon. However, fans need to know that not everyone knows about Mother Flame, or Lulusia, or the Government’s top-secret plans. The only people who know about this are the Five Elders and Imu. Of course, Imu is out of the equation here, because he is the main villain. This means that one of the Elders is likely to be the traitor here. Of course, Oda can go with any option here, but the most likely one is going to be Saint Shepherd Ju Peter.
There are many reasons as to why Saint Shepherd Ju Peter could end up being a traitor to the Government. The very first thing that fans need to know is that every single member of the Five Elders holds the power of Yokai. Saint Shepherd Ju Peter is the only one who doesn’t hold a Yokai power. He is simply a sandworm, which is just a fantasy creature and not an actual Yokai. He is the only one whose name isn’t written in kanji either. At the same time, he has an X mark on his head, which could be a hint from Oda as to who the traitor could be.
Most importantly, however, on Egghead Island, St Shepherd Ju Peter has not done as much as the other Elders. All of them have, in some way, played a major role, but Ju Peter has simply been laid back. For instance, Saint Mars went for the labophase at the very beginning, and Nujsuro went for the Pacifistas, and then chopped labophase in half. Saint Saturn has been in a battle against Luffy from the very beginning. Warcury was chasing down Luffy and is continuing to do so up until now. The only one who hasn’t done much up until this point is Ju Peter. If that wasn’t enough, in the previous chapter, Cipher Pol agents were seen falling from the Labophase to the Fabriophase. Now, to the Elders, these are insects who they do not care about at all. However, Ju Peter went out of his way to save their lives using his suction powers. Why he would do that is very curious.
Then, one can also take into consideration the parallel that Oda has drawn between Imu and the Five Elders, and Doflamingo and his officers. There is a very distinct parallel drawn here. Both Imu and Doflamingo have had people kneel in front of them. In the case of Doflamingo, there are four officers who kneel in front of him. In the case of Imu, there are Five Elders. This could suggest that one of the Elders is a traitor, just like Corazon in the Donquixote Family, and just like the Doflamingo, Imu could have four of his officers who are actually loyal to him. Right now, this is just conjecture, but it could very well end up being true.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1117, is set to be June 17, 2024.