Highlights
- Joyboy, a mysterious character in One Piece, belonged to the Ancient Kingdom and was a powerful figure who fought for liberation against the 20 Kingdoms during the Void Century.
- The Fishman race and the Lunarian race were revealed to be allies of the Ancient Kingdom and friends of Joyboy, indicating that Joyboy had promised safety to the Fishman-kind.
- Recent clues suggest that Joyboy may have been a member of the Buccaneer race, a race that carries the blood of giants in their bodies and was heavily persecuted and hunted by the World Government. The legend of Nika, revered by the Buccaneer race, may be connected to Joyboy.
Joyboy is a mysterious character in the One Piece world which fans know very little about. Over the years, the legend of Joyboy has been mentioned several times in One Piece and what fans do know is that this individual existed during the Void Century and was leading the fight for liberation against the 20 Kingdoms.
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Joyboy belonged to the Ancient Kingdom and was a very powerful figure. He was also the former Nika before Luffy and was, thus, loved by slaves all over the world, since he brought them freedom and joy. While Oda is still exploring quite a lot of lore related to the character that is Joyboy, a lot has been already mentioned in the story, including the potential race of the former Joyboy.
Joyboy’s Race
Fans know very little about the Ancient Kingdom and the families that it comprised 900 years ago in the One Piece world. However, there are some families that fans are already aware of that were a part of this powerful kingdom these families are the likes of the Kozuki, and even tribes such as the Minks, among others. With time, fans have been finding out more about the races that were affiliated with the Ancient Kingdom a long time ago in One Piece. Another interesting race that was revealed to be an ally of the Ancient Kingdom was none other than the Fishman race. Fans know that Joyboy promised safety to the Fishman-kind and, when he couldn’t accomplish it, he even left them an apology. In fact, Fish Man Island is the first place where Joyboy is mentioned in the story and fans can safely assume that they were powerful allies of the Ancient Kingdom and friends of Joyboy a long time ago.
More recently, another race that was introduced in the story that was revealed to be allies of Joyboy was the Lunarian race. The Lunarians were known as the Gods of the world quite a long time ago and they sat atop the Red Line, however, they were torn down from there, eventually being made nearly extinct.
Even more recently, Oda has revealed another race in the One Piece world, the secrets of which are very intriguing. This race is none other than the Buccaneer race. Kuma, who fans know very well at this point in the story, belonged to this race and it is highly likely that Joyboy himself was a Buccaneer as well. There are several things that point towards the former Joyboy being a member of the Buccaneer race and the very first clue goes back to the Reverie arc of One Piece.
Joyboy’s Giant Hat
When the Reverie arc of One Piece began, Imu was introduced to the fans for the very first time. There, in a particular panel, fans got to see Imu go to a cryogenic chamber, within which was what appeared to be a giant morgue. On one of the aisles, there was a giant straw hat, which likely belonged to the former Joyboy. At the time, fans could not make sense of what this giant straw hat was and why it was being kept in the Holy Land of Marijoa. Naturally, fans started theorizing about this giant straw hat and the conclusion that everyone came to was that a giant was wearing this straw hat centuries ago in the One Piece world. Fans drew a connection to the former Joyboy being a member of the Giant race.
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However, now, it is clear that the former Joyboy was most likely not a giant but a person with Giant’s blood in his veins. This would then make him a member of the Buccaneer race. The people of the Buccaneer race carry the blood of the giant in their bodies. Essentially, they have the strength of the Giants but a body that appears to be somewhat between that of a giant and a human. They are still remarkably large in size, however, not as massive as those of the giant race, and certainly not as small as humans either. This hat would be a perfect fit for someone of the Buccaneer race. However, there is more to Joyboy being a Buccaneer than just that.
The Legends Of The Buccaneer Race
The Buccaneer race was very recently introduced in the One Piece world and it was made clear to the fans that this race was almost extinct, to begin with. This means that they were heavily persecuted and hunted by the World Government. This was likely done because the World Government did not appreciate this race and believed that it was complicit in some major crime in the past. This crime was not revealed to the fans, however, immediately after Kuma’s race was made known to the World Government, both of his parents, along with him, were taken as slaves to the Holy Land of Marijoa. There, they were treated miserably, until both of his parents eventually succumbed to this miserable treatment and ended up dying. Kuma himself was to be a slave for life, however, thankfully, on the island of God Valley, 38 years ago, Kuma managed to make his escape.
However, all this was certainly not before the lore of Nika was passed on to Kuma. When Kuma was little, his father told him all about Nika. According to him, the people of the Buccaneer race revere Nika as God. According to the legends, Nika will one day come and free everyone, including the slaves of the Buccaneer race as well. He brings laughter and joy to wherever he goes and the drums of liberation of his heart set free thousands, bringing smiles to their faces as well. Kuma’s father was an avid believer in Nika and, later down the line, Kuma started believing in Nika as well. In fact, Kuma wanted to be more like Nika himself and save countless people, which is something that he actually did accomplish on the island of God Valley, 38 years ago.
Kuma actually managed to eat the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, and gain a power known as the hands of liberation. Using this hand, he freed 500 slaves and his friends as well, sending them all to safe locations all over the world. As Kuma continued to grow up, his conviction about saving people got even stronger, and, eventually, he passed on this legend to his daughter, Bonney as well. Kuma believes greatly in Nika and it is very interesting to note that the Buccaneer race is the only one in the One Piece world who knows this much about the legend of Nika.
The only explanation that one can come to is that this legend was passed down among the people of the Buccaneer race simply because Nika himself was a Buccaneer as well. Taking into consideration the fact that the giant straw hat found in Marijoa would have fit only either a Giant or a Buccaneer and the fact that the Buccaneer Race is privy to massive secrets about Nika, such as his drums of liberation or even his dance, one can only conclude that Joyboy indeed was a member of the Buccaneer race. This is further confirmed by the fact that his people were hunted down by the World Government and for them, even existing is a sin.
Saint Saturn confirmed recently in One Piece that merely being born as a Buccaneer is a sin and those who possess this name are bound to be slaves for their entire life and die in captivity. This sort of punishment could only be given to someone with connections to Nika. This makes sense when one takes into consideration the fact that perhaps Nika was a Buccaneer and, thus, all people related to him with his blood in their bodies were, thus, persecuted and killed. Of course, there is no direct confirmation about Joyboy being a Buccaneer just yet, however, things line up perfectly for him to be a member of this race already.
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 1097, is set to be November 5, 2023.
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