What is the One Piece?

To revolve
• To move in a circle.
• The Earth revolves around the sun

• The most important part.

• Their whole lives revolved around the
company.
 Purpose
• the reason for which something is done.
• The purpose of the meeting is to choose the
new president of the company.
 A SUMMARY OF THE VOID CENTURY
• JOY BOY: Our mystery revolves around the One
Piece, a treasure left behind by Joy Boy. To
understand what the purpose of the treasure is, we
first need to understand the motivations of Joy Boy,
and more specifically the type of person he was. My
belief is that Joy Boy, much like Roger and Luffy, was
also a pirate, who set out to sea and across his
travels met many people of many different races.
 To found
• to take the first steps in building.
• The school was founded in 1995.
 Immense
• extremely large or great.
• There are an immense number of restaurants
in my neigborhood.
 Proportion
• a part or share of the whole.
• A large proportion of old people in America
live alone.
• Joy Boy eventually founded a Great Kingdom of
pirates, but the immensity of this kingdom came
not from physical surface, but from all the allies that
formed it all around the world, hence why it came
to be referred to as a kingdom of “immense
proportions”
• THE DAWN: These allies included members of many
different races, such as Fishfolk, Merfolk, Skyfolk,
Minks, and potentially the likes of Giants and Kuja
too, as they all have brands of the “sun” in their
flags and symbols.
 Species
• A set of animals or plants.
• Mountain gorillas are an endangered species.
 Discrimination
• the unfair treatment of people and groups
based on characteristics.
• The discrimination of African-Americans is still
common in America.
 To persecute
• To punish someone or a group because of
beliefs or characteristics.
• Some people escape their countries to avoid
persecution.
 Race
• The main groups to which people belong to
based on their physical characteristics.
• In One Piece there are many different races
like humans, giants, fishmen, long-arms,
three-eyes, minks etc.
 To oppress
• To unfairly treat a person or group.
• The king oppressed the farmers by taking half
of their crops.
 Commonfolk
• Old way to say “ordinary people.”
• The rich liked the king but the commonfolk did
not.
 Cruel
• Causing pain or suffering to others with no
concern.
• Doflamingo is a very cruel person.
• This was Joy Boy’s symbol, as some came to call him
“the sun god”, for Joy Boy’s ultimate goal was to
connect the world together and allow all species to
“live under the same sun”. That meant doing away
with the discrimination of the persecuted races as
well as free all the slaves and oppressed
commonfolk from the cruel kings of the human
kingdoms. Joy Boy would refer to this ultimate plan
of his as the “Dawn of the World”, a day where all
could live under the same sun, and be free to
adventure, or in other words, the dawn of
adventure, the “Romance Dawn”
• ANCIENT WEAPONS: Joy Boy wanted to quite
literally bring the entire world together, by
destroying the Grand Line and the Red Line,
something that would be achieved by those
referred to as the “Ancient Weapons”, who have
been said that they would literally bring “the
destruction of the world”, or in other words, the
destruction of the Red Line and Grand Line.
 Ark
• A large wooden boat.
• There is a story called the “Ark of the
Covenant.”
 To emigrate
• To leave one's own country in order to settle
permanently in another.
• Their family emigrated to Canada.
 Beneath
• At a lower level.
• Beneath this floor is the basement.
 To fuse
• To join or combine to form a single thing or
entity.
• Some people think the One Piece is when the
four seas fuse into one.
• Poseidon alone would be needed to undo the calm
belts created by the Sea Kings to destroy the Grand
Line currents and then use the ark Noah to emigrate
the Fishmen to the surface, so that when the Red
Line is destroyed, destroying Fishman Island
beneath it, all the people have been safely
emigrated to the surface. With this, the four seas
would fuse into one, giving birth to the All Blue, a
sea lost to legend when the world became divided,
the “sea of adventure”
• 800 YEAR GAP: However, Joy Boy was not able to
bring the Dawn, as the mermaid princess likely
passed away during the war against the 20 allied
kingdoms. And as we are told, the mermaid
princess is only reborn every “several hundred
years”, the same term used to refer to the distance
from the Void Century and the present, or in other
words, 800 years. So Joy Boy had to wait 800 years
until Poseidon (and potentially other weapons)
could be reborn and a new Joy Boy would help
bring the Dawn by guiding the Ancient Weapons.
That’s why Roger was “too early”
 Inherited will
• a quality, characteristic, or other immaterial
possession received from those who have
died.
• The King of Pirates passed on his inherited will
to many pirates.
• INHERITED WILL: To achieve this, Joy Boy wanted to
make sure his will to bring the Dawn would be
inherited. As Hiriluk put it, inherited will means that
one only dies when they are forgotten. So if they
are remembered, their will, their dreams they failed
to accomplish, are inherited by others after them,
meaning that, as both Roger and Blackbeard put it,
“people’s dreams never end”.
 To purge
• To get rid of something unwanted.
• The World Government wants to purge all
information about the Lunarians.
• So while the Government attempted to make sure
Joy Boy would be forgotten, by purging all
information on the Void Century, Joy Boy’s will
survived, inherited across the ages, until it would be
inherited by Roger and from Roger to Luffy, passed
down much like the symbol of the straw hat
 Sake
• A Japanese drink made from rice.
 Sorrow
• A deep sadness or disappointment.
• He felt sorrow after he discovered he that lake
where he used to swim as a child is now dirty
and polluted.
• THE DREAM: This dream being the dream to throw
the biggest party in the world! I believe that Luffy’s
goal at the end of his dream that he told to Ace and
Sabo (much like Roger told Oden and Whitebeard)
was to throw the biggest party in the world, to
exchange sake with everyone, which is why later he
first exchanged sake with Ace and Sabo. This party
would connect people all over the world to throw
away sorrow and instead deliver laughter, to
connect all there as one piece. That’s why I believe
Joy Boy left behind the One Piece
 Terminology
• The words used that are related to a study or
specific thing.
• This book about the Earth uses a lot of
scientific terminology.
 Iconic
• Very famous or popular.
• Santa Claus is an iconic symbol of Christmas.
 To witness
• To see an event happen.
• I saw on the news that there was a large fire
but friend witnessed it.
• EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD: So now we need to
explore the few clues that Oda has left us about the
One Piece: first, there’s the words that Roger
mentioned during his execution: “I left everything in
this world at that place”. This terminology is kind of
important, because in the iconic moment when the
Roger pirates laughed after witnessing the One
Piece, Oden mentioned “On that day we reached
the final island… we learned everything in this
world”.
 To note
• To notice or to pay attention to something.
• He noted his friends unusual laugh.
• It’s possible that Oden was referring that this
“everything in the world” refers to knowledge, the
knowledge of everything one would want to know
about the world. However, it’s important to note
that Roger never said that “everything in the world”
is the actual treasure, just that he also left it behind
on that island. So put quite simply, the final island
holds information about the true history as we
know for a fact, but additionally also holds a
treasure, the One Piece
 Etymology
• The origin of a word.
• The etymology of Monday, Tuesday
Wednesday… comes from Norse Mythology.
 Phonetic
• The word’s sound.
• Some languages have a phonetic alphabet,
you say the word like it is spelled. English does
not have a phonetic alphabet.
• ETYMOLOGY OF ONE PIECE: So in Japanese, believe
it or not, the word “One Piece” has two different
readings. In Japanese, some words can be written
with a double reading, a phonetic and a written
one. For One Piece, the phonetic reading is the
English words “One Piece”, but the written reading
is “hitotsunagi no daihihou” ( ひとつなぎの大秘
宝 ). “Daihihou” means “great hidden treasure”,
while “hitotsunagi” traditionally means “something
in one piece”. However, the odd thing here is that
“hitotsunagi” is not written in kanji, but with its
phonetic reading, meaning that it could have even
more potential different readings.
 Alternatively
• Another option or possibility.
• You could take the 6:30 train - alternatively,
you could wait for the 7:50 fast train.
 To an extent
• If you say that something is true to an extent,
you mean that it is partly but not completely
true.
• To an extent, they're both right.
 To indicate
• To point out or to show.
• This map indicates where the treasure is
buried.
 Ideology
• An ideology is a set of beliefs, especially the
political beliefs on which people, parties, or
countries base their actions.
• When Jeff's governmental ideology changed,
he decided to write a book about it.
 Literal
• It is used to mean exactly what is written.
• When I said “I was so hungry I could eat a
horse.” I did not mean it literally.
• “Hitotsunagi” can alternatively mean “that which
connects people together” ( 人つなぎ ), or even
“one sea at peace” ( 一つ凪 ). So I think to an
extent it indicates that as an ideology, “One Piece”
can be used to describe several different things. Of
course there is still the one and only physical
treasure at Laugh Tale, but “One Piece” could also
refer to the world being united as one after the
destruction of the Red Line/Grand Line, literally
becoming “one sea at peace” after the storm of the
D. (which I believe will be a literal storm) calms
down, but I think it also refers to something else:
the “laugh tale” that Roger found at the final island
 Seemingly
• To appear to be something.
• In the 1950’s many people believed that getting a
person on the moon was seemingly impossible.
 Distinction
• A difference between similar things or people.
• She made a distinction between the words
“less” and “fewer.”
 Identity
•  the set of qualities and beliefs that make one
person or group different from others.
• We still don’t know the identity of Luffy’s
mother.
• LAUGH TALE: Roger mentioned “Joy Boy… what an
unbelievable treasure you left behind… what an
unbelievable laugh tale”. Roger seemingly found a
tale that made him laugh (important distinction: it is
never said the tale was “funny”, just that it caused
laughter, which could also have been from joy or
other emotions), and it is likely that this is what Oden
meant by everything in the world, the knowledge of
the void century, meaning this tale details all the
information we need not only to find out the True
History, but also to find out the identity of the One
Piece treasure. If only we had access to it, we could
find out exactly what it is, but unfortunately… we
don’t have access to that Laugh Tale
 To reveal
• to make known or show something usually
secret or hidden.
• The identity of One Piece will be revealed at
the end of the story.
 Precisely
• Accurately and exactly.
• The train leaves at precisely 2 o’clock.
• Or do we? Because I actually believe the Laugh Tale
has been hidden under our eyes this entire time.
When I first watched “Stampede” in summer of
2019, and the words “Laugh Tale” were revealed for
the first time, it clicked in my head that we had
heard these words somewhere before… and that is
precisely what details to us the identity of this
“laugh tale”…
This Laugh Tale… has to be Binks’s Sake.
 To wander
• To go about from place to place usually
without a plan or purpose.
• I’ll wander around the mall for half an hour.
 Entirety
• the state of being entire or complete. Similar
to everything.
• I read the nine-hundred-page book in its
entirety, without stopping to take a single
break.
 Nostalgic
• Is pleasure and sadness that is caused by
remembering something from the past and
wishing that you could experience it again.
• When the old song came on the radio, Harold
suddenly felt nostalgic for his high school
years.
• At the end of the song, these same words are
repeated, “a never-ending, ever-wandering, Laugh
Tale” ( 果てなしあてなし笑い話 ). This tale exists
in the form of a song, passed down since “ancient
times” of the Void Century as Brook put it. The song
was played across the entirety of Chapter 967, it’s a
song that Robin referred to as “nostalgic” (her only
nostalgic moment being the time she spent at the
library of Ohara), and more than anything, it’s a song
that when Laboon heard it… resulted in him
laughing. As well as everybody else. Every time the
song is played, everyone bursts into laughter, as this
song is a song used at parties to help deliver
laughter and connect everyone together.
 Ideal
• is an idea that seems very good
and worth trying to achieve.
• Parents often teach their ideals to their
children.
 To eradicate
• To completely get rid of something.
• These types of insects are usually very difficult
to eradicate.
 To bid goodbye/hello/farewell
• An old way to greet someone.
• I bid you a good day.
• It’s a song that speaks of the history of the Great
Kingdom, of their ideals and how they came to be
eradicated, and yet how even through that, they
still clung to hope that their will would be inherited
and that their dreams would one day come to pass.
So much like the Rumbar Pirates, the people of the
Great Kingdom likely bid goodbye with a smile and a
laugh on their faces, something that Roger and his
crew ended up also doing when they heard this
laugh tale, just like all those who laugh when they
hear it at a party.
 Lyrics
• the words of a song.
• I like this song, I will find the lyrics on the
internet.
 Crest
• A design used to represent a family, group, or
organization.
• On the wall is the family crest.
• And it’s by observing the lyrics of the song that we
realize how it details everything about the void
century: it speaks of saying “goodbye to a
hometown”, likely the Great Kingdom. It talks about
a song being passed down by “birds in circles”,
which could actually refer to the Kouzuki clan,
creators of the poneglyphs, as their crest bears a
“bird in a circle”. It talks about “splitting the seas”,
quite literally destroying the Grand Line/Red Line. It
speaks of a storm coming from a faraway sky, the
storm the D. will bring, and of tomorrow’s morning
sun, the Dawn to come. 
 Prophecy
• a prediction of what will happen in the future.
Usually magical.

• Harry Potter was called the child of prophecy

because many believed he was the only one
who could stop Voldemort.
 Occasion
• a particular event, or the time at which it takes
place.
• On one occasion I stayed up until two in the
morning
• It mentions the “evening dream”, in other words the
dream before the long night of the World
Government would come, but states that tomorrow,
once the Dawn comes, the “night moon” will still be
there, the “night moon” being a term that Toki used
in her prophecy to refer to Oden, but that has also
been used in other occasions to refer to those who
have passed away (like Ace). In other words, those
who have passed away will still be there as long as
we remember them. “We all end up as bones”, but
as long as we’re remembered we’ll live on. And
finally, it mentions “a song of a sea”, the All Blue, as
well as, of course, a “never-ending, ever-wandering,
Laugh Tale”
 Obvious
• Easily understood.
• The answer seems obvious enough to me.
 To forge
• To create something strong or successful.
• The two women forged a close friendship.
• But then, does this song also speak of the One Piece
treasure? Of course it does! It mentions it time and
time again, to the point it couldn’t be more obvious.
The One Piece, in reality, has always been there,
under our very eyes, ever since Chapter 1, as it’s the
one thing that has always helped connect Luffy
together with everyone, and what forged his very
first connection.
 THE ONE PIECE TREASURE
• The One Piece treasure… is sake itself. Sake is what
has always connected Luffy together with everyone
else. Just like Ace first exchanged sake with Luffy
and Sabo, helping lay that first step to Luffy’s dream
to exchange sake with everyone in the world, one
day Luffy will use the One Piece to help connect
everyone in the world together. Just like Ace said,
sake is something that connects people together.
 Element
• An essential or characteristic part of
something.
• There’s always an element of danger in
mountain climbing.
 Integral
• A necessary part of something.
• Vegetables are an integral part of our diet.
 Boundary
• a real or imagined line that marks the edge or 
limit of something.
• He did not like that his boss sometimes calls
him on weekend to talk about work. There
should be boundaries between work and one’s
personal life.
• The river forms the country's western
boundary.
 Significance
• the quality of being worthy of attention;
importance.
• This house has special significance to my
family.
• Like a lot of elements in this series, sake is
something that is integral to Japanese culture. Strict
social boundaries are loosened up when drinking,
as it is something that helps connect even those
who are from different positions. But I don’t need
to explain that, as the manga does a great job at
explaining the significance of sake in its world.
Exchanging sake is something that helps connect
and unite people, allowing those who drink it to
become like family, even when they are not related
by blood, much like a pirate crew.
• And so, if Luffy were to exchange the sake that Joy
Boy left behind at Laugh Tale, he could quite literally
use it as a symbol to unify the entire world, by
exchanging sake with people from all over in the
world’s biggest party. With that he would be
delivering joy and laughter to everybody, making
him the new Joy Boy.
 Concept
• An idea.
• I never tried mountain climbing. I have no
concept what it is like.
 To establish
•  to create or to set something in a particular
way.
• As a young doctor he worked hard to establish
himself in the community.
 To demand
• To ask or call for with authority.
• When their food was almost an hour late, the
customers began to demand their money
back.
• However, it’s with this knowledge we have right
now that we can realize how these concepts had
long since been established in the manga since the
very start… since Chapter 1. In Chapter 1, the Red-
Haired Pirates were drinking, dancing, and singing
Binks’s Sake. However, their fun was interrupted by
the bandit Higuma, who demanded to be given all
the sake in the store. And how did Shanks react to
that? He offered Higuma… a bottle of sake.
 Equivalent
• equal in force, amount, or value.
• Some Chinese words have no English
equivalent.
 Petty
• Something of little importance.
• The meeting ended in a petty argument
between a couple of the secretaries over who
does the most work.
• Right there, since the very start, Shanks was offering
the equivalent to the One Piece in exchange to
Higuma as a symbol of friendship. Higuma however
smashed the bottle, claiming that he wouldn’t be
happy with just “one piece of sake”. And right after
that… Shanks laughed. He laughed because he knew
how foolish it was to get angry over something like
that. Sake is meant to be shared, sake is meant to
connect people together, so it’s just silly to be petty
like this. Luffy got angry, asking “why are you
laughing”, as he did not yet understand why Shanks
would react this way with sake. But we know exactly
why now. That’s the symbolic value that sake has
held since Chapter 1.
 Beyond
• on or to the farther side of.
• He lives just beyond the mountains.
 Plague (noun)/To plague (verb)
• any serious disease that kills many people.
(noun)
• There was a large plague in the 14th century.
• To fill up. (verb)
• The house is plagued with mice.
 To showcase
• To show or display something special.
• And even beyond, at that point, you realize how the
entire series is plagued with moments that
showcase the importance of sake:
– Of course, when Luffy, Ace, and Sabo declare their own
dreams, and Luffy states he wishes to throw the biggest
party in the world, Ace offers to exchange sake between
the three of them
– When the Straw Hats finally enter the Grand Line and
vow their dreams again, they all do it by laying their feet
over a barrel of sake
– When Hiriluk explains what Inherited Will is, he says
goodbye to his life by drinking from a cup of sake, while
Kureha at the same instant also drinks from a bottle of
sake, to show that she is inheriting his dream
– Bellamy constantly mocked the Straw Hats for believing
in things like the One Piece, saying that “fools don’t
realize the real treasure around them”… in a bar
surrounded by an endless supply of sake
 To declare
• to make something publicly known.
• I declare this festival open.
– And right after leaving that bar, as Blackbeard declares
that dreams are real, and that the One Piece does exist,
he slams down to the ground… a bottle of sake,
symbolizing the existence of the One Piece
– When Luffy gets separated from his crewmates at
Sabaody, all he could think back on is a moment of his
crew partying together as Binks’s Sake plays in the
background
 Briefly
• Something mentioned, showed or done
quickly or for a little.
• She met John briefly on Friday night.
 Fleet
• a group of ships sailing together.
• These are the captains of Luffy’s fleet.
 To devolve
• to change from one thing to another, often
into something not as good.
• What started out as a meeting later devolved
into an argument.
– When Whitebeard declared that the One Piece does
exist, at that moment, he briefly thinks back at a time
where he exchanged sake with Roger
– At the end of Dressrosa the Straw Hat Grand Fleet is
formed specifically through the act of exchanging sake,
which later devolves into a more natural party where
everybody exchanges sake together
 To insist
• To demand forcefully, especially when others
disagree with or oppose what you say.
• I didn't want to go, but she insisted. “Come
on, let's go.”
 Accompaniment
• Something that goes well with something else.
• These cookies are a lovely accompaniment
to milk.
– Have you never thought it odd how Luffy always insisted
to have a cook and a musician? Perhaps a cook able to
cook and serve sake at his party and a musician to be
there to play Binks’s Sake?
– During his final words, Oden stated “If I am to be an
accompaniment to one piece of sake, then that suits me
fine”, literally describing himself as the oden (food) that
accompanies the sake that is One Piece
– And finally, there’s the scene of Ace and Yamato
exchanging sake together as they talk about Luffy’s true
dream, which ties into the full title of Chapter 1000.
Previously, we assumed this title was Yamato talking, but
what if the one stating is actually… Joy Boy. Talking
exactly about that: “One Piece – The Sake I Brewed
While Waiting For You, Straw Hat Luffy”

Looking back, we start to realize how the importance of

sake had been there under our eyes all these times.
• Ultimately, “One Piece” is a concept that extends to
far more than just the treasure on the final island.
Sure, there’s the “one piece” of sake waiting there
that Joy Boy left behind, so that someone could one
day deliver it to the whole world and unify it
together. There’s also the “one piece” of music
Binks’s Sake, which allowed this information to be
passed down the ages and help connect people
together at parties. And then there’s the All Blue,
one piece of a sea that connects the world together
physically. 
 To indulge
• allow oneself to enjoy something.
• After I got $100 from my grandparent, I
indulged in a shopping spree.
• But it much more simply refers to a concept; an
idea. In a sense, the words “one piece” refer to not
only the people of this world, but also those of
ours: us, the readers. Through the world, through
this laugh tale, and through sake, we can all be
connected together and party hand in hand. What
point is there to war if we could all just indulge in
laughter? This may be a childish ideal, but it fits
exactly with what this series is all about.
 Blatant
• Something very obvious.
• The lie he told was very blatant. Nobody
believed him.
 Expanse
• a wide continuous area of something.
• I can see the green expanse of the forest.
 Depictions
• the action of showing something, especially in
a work of art.
• The artist's depiction of the French
countryside was shown in his painting by
drawing the actual hills and greenery in
France.
 To signify
• to be a sign of something or to mean
something.
• The dark clouds signified the coming storm.
 Conclusion
• But it’s particularly in the manga itself that we
realize how the identity of the One Piece was so
blatantly hidden right under our noses. On the
cover of volume 1, we see a large expanse of sea. In
it sits an island, one that is identical to all the
depictions we’ve seen of the All Blue, with an
identical shape and palm tree, meaning that this
island on this cover signifies the creation of the All
Blue at the end of the series.
• On the foreground we have the Straw Hats partying,
dancing, and singing. But what matters to us is Zoro,
who is sitting on a chest of treasure, which
symbolizes the treasure, the One Piece. And what
does he do? He laughs. As he holds up in the air, at
the center of the cover, a bottle of sake.
• I believe the “Laugh Tale” that Roger heard on that
final island is Binks’s Sake, which describes all the
events of the Void Century when breaking down its
lyrics. These lyrics also tell us the identity of the
physical treasure itself, being the sake that needs to
be delivered to the whole world to unify it in the
world’s biggest party, the sake Joy Boy has been
making while waiting for Strawhat Luffy.