Do we finally know what Luffy's real dream is?
Not to become pirate king, but the one that Oda-sensei has only hinted at in his flashback
with Sabo and Ace.
The exact same dream that also Roger had and that inspired people like Crocus, Shanks and
Rayleigh to put all their faith in our rubbery boy to change the world.
Well, I think chapter 1049 of One Piece really seems to suggest so.
At the climax of the epic battle between Luffy and Kaido, both of them attacking with what
seems like their last, ultimate techniques, the emperor asks Luffy what kind of world
he wants to make if he actually is strong enough to change it.
And in a series of 3 absolutely incredible double spreads, Luffy replies that he wants
to make a world in which his friends can eat and drink as much as they wish.
Argh, I can't even begin to explain the sort of goosebumps that this gave me.
Now, why do I think does this answer not only make a ton of sense, but more importantly
also wonderfully embodies the main theme and message of One Piece as a story?
There's a lot packed into this little statement.
One big theory that I heard being thrown around a while ago, is that Luffy's real dream might
be to have a giant banquet with all his friends, based on the fact that the end of every major
arc and victory for the crew, Luffy would celebrate with a feast.
Which, honestly was really close, but did not quite hit the mark.
Because a banquet would imply that Luffy's biggest desire is having one giant event with
all his friends laughing and feasting together.
Which I absolutely DO think will happen, but it doesn't quite address the main theme of
the story, Freedom.
The fact that Luffy wants to make a world where everyone can eat as much as they want,
friends and food, the two things that he loves the most in this world, implies that he wants
them to have the freedom live the happiest life he can imagine.
To me, it's the most Luffy way of saying that he wants to liberate the world.
It takes Luffy's biggest character quirk, eating like there is no tomorrow, and connecting
it to the central moral message of One Piece, which I just find absolutely beautiful.
The banquets that Luffy had so far always are a celebration of life among equals that
now are free to do whatever they like.
Eat, drink, sing, dance.
Because as we know, at this point, Luffy is basically friends with everyone in the world,
except those who stand in the way of everyone else's happiness.
In a world, where most people live in poverty and despair, ruled by a small group of people
that have all the wealth and luxury, I would argue that means LUffy's goal is to take down
the world nobles and free the world.
Which ironically is exactly what Kaido's goal is, whose flashback I'm pumped to discuss
in a moment of course.
And so even more awesomely, is awesomely a word?
Hm, now it is.
Even more awesomely, the theme of eating and drinking as much as one likes not only references
the story as a whole, but of course also connects wonderfully to the themes of Wano in particular.
A country that is starving and has no clean water to drink.
An arc that literally started with Luffy being gifted the little bit of Tama's rice that
she had.
He shouts that dream at the climax of the raid on onigashima, where Kaido has been holding
a yearly banquet with all the food and drinks anyone could want, but only for his men and
those with power.
Even though Luffy and Kaido share the same goal in a way, freeing the world, Kaido has
taken the wrong path to get there, becoming what he hated the most in the process.
Don't you find it ironic, that we see Kaido literally declaring war on the nobles that
took away his freedom and that of the people he loved by creating a de-facto system of
world nobles inside wano itself?
That is Kaido's big flaw as a character, that in the end only Luffy will be able to make
him see.
It's very similar to Big Mom I feel, now that I think about it.
Because she has created an ACTUAL country made out of food, also pretty much based on
Luffy's dream, only that here the people are of course not really free to do whatever they
want and live a happy life, though, let's be real, it's a lot better than Wano.
Two of the Yonko have basically started where Luffy did, only that where Kaido and Big Mom
lost there course somewhere along the way and turned into villains, Luffy will be the
one who actually succeeds in making this dream a reality, WITHOUT becoming the bad guy in
the process.
That's what always has made Luffy special and why I love this chapter and the reveal
of Luffy's actual dream so much.
Did you notice how young Big Mom is very similar to young Luffy?
Genuinely kind and caring.
Or how young Kaido in this chapter basically looks like a young Luffy with horns?
And actually, since we're on the topic now, let me share my thoughts on Kaido's flashback
that we got in this chapter.
Ah, okay so as you will notice, I absolutely LOVED the overall story for Kaido and how
he became who he is today and I will go into detail here in just a moment, but I do have
to get this one thing off my chest first.
If this is everything we are going to get for his past, that would be way way too short
for me personally.
This is the final villain of not only the longest arc in all of One Piece, but also
the entire Yonko Saga past the time skip.
Kaido has gotten a ton of absolutely next level character development during Onigashima,
but I just really really want to see more details and more interactions from his past.
Like at LEAST an entire chapter or two.
Or three.
Or four.
I want to see more of Kaido interacting with Big mom and whitebeard.
I do get that Oda-sensei is probably saving a lot of that for when he actually reveals
Rocks and his past, but still I think Kaido is interesting and important to the story
NOW.
So if this is it, not long enough for me personally haha.
I want more.
However that being said, what gives me a lot of hope that we will still see a lot more
from Kaido's past, is the fact that we still don't know why he was experimented on, how
he recruited the rest of his men, how he learned about Joy Boy and so on and so forth.
So truly fingers crossed for more.
The flashback that we DID get so far though, content wise was just so so good.
I love the fact that Kaido is from a kingdom that's called Vodka, given that he's a pretty
bad alcoholic.
How he made a name for himself as his countries strongest warrior, only to be sold off to
the marines by the king for the chance to get more power by getting access to the Reverie.
He comes from an island that did war and plundering to raise enough money for the heavenly tribute,
which is basically protection money a country has to pay to the world government to not
be attacked by them.
This explains a lot of Kaido's character traits.
He has known nothing but war, ever since he was a little kid.
He has learned to hate the world government as they are responsible for his childhood
and being sold and betrayed.
I absolutely love that Oda-sensei baited us by saying that Kaido was captured and executed
a bunch of times by the Marines, but as it turns out, most of the time he just escaped
and let himself be recaptured whenever he became hungry.
Which is not only the most hilarious explanation for the strongest creature being captured
that often, but it also ties in nicely with the food theme of Luffy's dream again.
Another really interesting detail I found was once again big moms interaction with Kaido.
It really seems like these two used to have a much much closer relationship than we originally
thought.
Inline is almost eating like a big sister here and is shocked to find out that Kaido
once again vanished after Rocks was defeated by Garp and Roger.
Again, we still don't know how this all played out, but it sounds like at least these two
were pretty close even after whatever went down on god valley.
But in a way, the most important reveal in this chapter to me, was something that I had
already been speculating for quite a while now.
Kaido basically confirms that he has been trying to bring about the return of Joy Boy.
And while King thought that it would be Kaido himself, Kaido clearly was waiting for the
one who could defeat him.
Which is why he was so so disappointed at the beginning that Luffy couldn't defeat him,
only that Luffy came back not once, not twice, but three times.
Each time stronger and more determined before.
And the fact that Kaido remembers this conversation with King, to me really shows that he is almost
relieved that Luffy has delivered such a massive blow and has been able to push him this far.
The flame clouds have vanished, which has finally triggered Momo into fully summoning
clouds of his own.
Now, the big question is of course.
Is Kaido defeated or not?
While all of this clearly sets up our expectations for Kaido being defeated here and Luffy having
run out of steam too, I personally would like to think that this fight isn't over.
Luffy has come back a number of times in this fight already, but Kaido hasn't had to pull
off a full comeback even once so far.
I still don't believe that we have seen his awakened form yet and I would honestly like
this battle to continue on for a bit longer.
I feel like Kaido will stand back up.
However it doesn't necessarily have to be against Luffy.
I think the last panel shows us, that Kaido has realized that Luffy is Joyboy and is acknowledging
his power.
Luffy has overcome him in this moment.
But I would absolutely love to see Kaido getting back up to defend Luffy against government
forces or blackbeard or whoever might try to take Luffy out while they still have the
chance.
Kaido defending JoyBoy and inheriting his own will to free the world onto Luffy would
be a fantastic redemption arc for his character, that for whatever reason I really want to
see for Kaido.
If you want to know why, you really cant ignore this analysis of Kaido I've done.
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