This is the Golden Lion.
Shiki.
One of the most powerful characters in all of One PIece.
A living legend, that fought on one level with the likes of Rocks, Roger, Garp and Sengoku.
And yet Shiki is a character that even some of the most hardcore fans don’t even know
is a canon part of the story.
That he’s still alive and well, somewhere out there in the one piece world.
A world, where now all of his potential rivals, Kaido, Big Mom and Whitebeard have vanished
from the playing field at exactly the time that he promised to carry out his plan to
take over the world.
Is this just a coincidence or is there actual proof in the story that the Golden Lion has
been secretly pulling the strings from behind the scenes, orchestrating all the major events
in one piece?
Turns out, there is.
Not only of Shiki’s fingerprints that he left throughout the story, but as we’ll
see at the end, also for a friendship with Roger.
Garp and Rocks in his youth.
Let’s find out why.
The Golden Lion Shiki, also known as the flying pirate, is a bit of an enigma in One Piece.
If you’ve heard his name before, you probably remember Shiki as the main antagonist of the
One PIece movie ‘Strong World’, that came out in December 2009, that even though it’s
already 13 years old, is still one of the best One Piece movies ever created.
The reason for that is simple: While the events of Strong World, just like Stampede, Film
Red or Film Z are not part of the official one piece canon, meaning they never officially
happened as part of the story, Shiki’s character has been confirmed as canon on multiple occasions
by Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece.
So, unlike other powerful movie characters, like Uta, Admiral Zypher or former Roger pirate
Dougles Bullet, the golden lion shiki is confirmed to be alive somewhere out in the one piece
world.
And while the events in the movie never happened, his past and powers are all real, including
his powerful devil fruit ability to make anything and anyone he touches levitate and control
them at at will.
As you have guessed, this will of course be important.
So what do we actually know about this character?
Turns out, quite a lot actually.
On top of a number of official mentions in the regular storyline, Strong World also released
with the official chapter 0 of one piece, that not only describes most of Shiki’s
past, but also revealed a number of other impactful events that have been incredibly
important to the story.
For example, the chapter reveals that Dragon, Mihawk, Crocodile and Doflamingo were all
present at Roger’s execution.
Or how Shanks recruited Usopps’ father Yasopp and started his own pirate crew.
Shiki used to be part of the legendary and infamous Rocks Pirate crew, that included
the likes of Kaido, Big mom and Whitebeard, all of who would later turn out to become
emperors of the sea, the most powerful pirates in the world.
After Rocks defeat during the God Valley incident and the disbandment of the crew, Shiki became
a captain himself, leading the strongest and largest pirate fleet on the planet and becoming
a pillar of the ‘old era’.
He had a lot of respect for Roger, whom he had a rivalry with, similar to Whitebeard.
When Shiki found out that Roger had located one of the ancient weapons, he tried to persuade
Roger to become his right hand man and together take over the world, following the dream of
his former captain, Rocks.
When Roger declined this offer, the battle of Edd War began.
Shiki’s fleet had the Roger pirates completely surrounded, when a sudden change of weather
sank half of Shiki’s ships and a piece of wood got stuck in his skull.
The Roger pirates were able to escape.
Later, when Roger let himself be captured by Garp to kick off the great pirate era to
find the next joy boy, Shiki went to marineford on his own to stop the Marines, only to find
out that Roger was going to be executed in his home town of Loguetown located in the
East Blue.
That’s right, Shiki did the entire marineford war on his own, until he was ultimately stopped
and captured by Garp and Sengoku in battle that destroyed half the island.
Shiki was brought to impel down.
the marine underwater prison legendary for its cruelty and escape-proof layout.
And yet Shiki managed to escape after only 2 years.
To this day he remains the only person in history to ever escape the prison on his own.
Without batting an eye, he cut off his own legs to get rid of his sea stone cuffs so
he could use his ability and escaped.
He then replaced his legs with his two named blades and went to see his old crew mate Whitebeard,
telling him about a new plan of his that would be carried out in 20 years.
In fact, despite his quite comical and charismatic personality, all other Legends of his era
know him for a cunning schemer and dangerously powerful enemy.
And so since SHinki’s actions in strong world were not canon, but his plan to show
the world hell in 20 years very much is, are there even any hints at Shiki being active
in the one piece world?
Yes there are.
And shoutout once again to Mr Bushido who gave me the idea for this theory on my Subreddit.
Link below.
Remember Shiki’s devil fruit?
The ability to let anything that he touches levitate with full control over it?
Turns out there are a number of instances in the story where objects and even people
levitate, that are unexplained to this day.
After the war at marineford and in preparation for the time skip, we see Apoo, a member of
the worst generation, who would later become part of Kaido’s crew, floating up into the
sky.
Similarly, we see the ship of Capone Bedge, another member of the worst generation, being
floated into a giant object levitating over the ocean.
Then we have this mysterious shrine floating casually in the air in early wano.
We see a mysterious man sharing a cup of Sake with Crocus, who’s Japanese attire and golden
hair very much resemble Shiki’s.
And, we see Kurozumi Higurashi, the old hag, who helped Kaido and Orochi claim power in
Wano, and who wielded Bon Clay’s devil fruit before him, change her face into that of a
younger Shiki.
Do these things prove that Shiki is abducting promising young pirates, scheming with former
Roger pirates and overthrowing governments?
Well, maybe.
Let’s look at the evidence.
Let’s start with apoo.
There is very little we can go off here.
This could be any sort of ability or an invisible staircase, but so far, Shiki’s is the only
one we know that would allow such a feat.
So it would check out.
Now the case of Capone Bege is a lot more extreme.
He is levitated against his will and sucked into this giant thing.
Could this be something else?
It could, but we also know that Shiki’s ship is a literal floating island, and that
thing could certainly be just that.
Why would Shiki want Capone Bege and Apoo out of all people?
We’ll get to that.
As for the floating shrine in Wano, this could just be a trick of the perspective or simply
a drawing error by Oda.
However it is deliberately drawn a second time in the manga, clearly levitating in the
air.
And as Shiki explains to us, things he makes levitate, will keep levitating until he stops
it or is knocked unconscious.
So this one checks out as well.
Is that enough though to speculate, that Shiki will become an active part of the story again,
much less the hidden mastermind that has been pulling the strings from behind the scenes
and that Oda has actively kept hidden from us until his big reveal?
Well at the very least i find it interesting that Shiki’s face and name have been popping
up again recently.
Shiki’s face appearing in Wano, connecting him to the Kurozumi is one thing, but Sengoku
revealing that he was part of the Rocks pirate and named in the same sentence as Kaido, Big
mom and Whitebeard did set off some alarm bells for me.
Suddenly Shiki is not only connected to Roger, Garp and Whitebeard because he was a great
pirate, but now he was also an active part of the God Valley Incident.
And yet he was on friendly terms with Whitebeard and Roger even after this.
We know that Big Mom got Kaido’s mythical fruit on God Valley and we see the mysterious
hag who has Shiki’s face give Orochi another legendary fruit.
Could this one also be from that mythical island?
On top of that, Oda has promised the appearance of a lurking legend during the wano arc.
And while no lurking legend actually appeared in Wano, you could argue that Oda meant the
reveal of Rocks D. Xebec’s existence during the arc.
However, doesn’t Shiki fit much better into this role?
He is on the same power level as the other Yonko.
He is literally one of the legends of the old era, known by everyone for his epic battles
his escape from impel down, and i think we’ve made it clear at this point that Shiki has
been doing nothing else but lurking for the past 20 years, working on his big plan.
But even if Shiki is the Lurking Legend and still doing stuff behind the scenes, how do
we know he’s actually working on something big and what would a plan like that even look
like?
Turns out we might already know.
If there is one consistent theme that Oda has created around Shiki throughout the years,
it’s that he’s a schemer.
We have multiple other legendary characters commenting on his love for big plans and maneuvers.
Garp says that Shiki is not the type of person who could tolerate a peaceful era for long,
but also that he would not start something big without extensive planning and preparation
beforehand.
When Shiki is on Whitebeards ship after his grand escape, Whitebeard comments that Shiki
is surely planning something big again.
And even Rayleigh is shown reacting to the news of Shiki’s escape, wondering what he
is planning to do next.
After his capture, he says that he will make the world see that Pirates are the true rulers
of the sea and the last panel of chapter 0 has him straight out saying that he has a
20 year plan in the making.
And Oda has made it a point to show us how much plotting and manipulating is going on
in the one piece world on multiple levels.
For example, Ceasar controlling Punk Hazard, Doflamingo controlling Ceasar, Kaido controlling
Doflamingo, so could there be another link in this chain?
We do know that Shiki has had connections to all the big players in the world, the Roger
pirates, including Shanks and Buggy, the other 3 original Yonko and through Rocks, and God
Valley he must have known some of the biggest secrets of this world, like the existence
of Imu.
Subscribe if you think Shiki would be a better final villain than Imu.
If Shiki is not only an active part of the current one piece plot, but also has been
cooking up a major plot to take over the world, what exactly is that plan?
For that, we need to start connecting all the dots, we have put on the board so far.
And the picture they paint is truly shocking.
Let’s start in Wano.
We have 3 things connecting him to the country: Shiki’s Japanese Design, the floating temple
and his face used by Kurozumi Higurashi.
The last one tells us one thing, Higurashi met and touched Shiki at least once.
But why should Oda throw him in as a random face, if it didn’t mean anything.
Anything he does always means something.
One Option, is that Higurashi used to be part of the Rocks pirates, which is a real possibility.
But another one, is that she was in cahoots with Shiki.
And this is where it gets interesting.
As you will recall, it was Kurozumi Higurashi and her partner, who pushed Orochi into claiming
the throne and who invited Kaido to take over the country.
They are the only source we have for the Kurozumi hunt that happened after Orochi’s ancestor
killed the other daimyos.
Only is that actually true?
Take Kanjuro’s parents for instance, they were actors that were killed on stage after
being recognized by the audience.
But let me ask you, would YOU become an actor and play in front of the entire country if
you were being hunted by everyone?
Wouldn’t you try to stay under the radar or even leave the country, as some people
from wano did, when they founded Shimotsuki Village in the east blue.
Could it not be, that it was this group of people loyal to Rocks or Shiki who killed
Orochi’s and Kanuuro’s parents to create an easy to control puppet that could take
over Wano?
But what would Shiki get if he installed Kaido and an easy to control puppet ruler in Wano?
Well, the one thing he wanted right from the start, which started the Battle of Edd War
with Roger.
Shiki wanted an ancient weapon, and as we now know there has been one sitting and waiting
right here in Wano.
Taking out Kaido, getting his Poneglyph PLUS the ancient weapon Pluton.
You probably already know that the two people who claim to be Kurozumis possessed two devil
fruits we already knew.
Bartolomeos Barrier fruit and Bon Clay’s mirror fruit.
But what if these two characters never actually died.
What if that pair IS Barolomeo and Bon Clay.
i know that sounds stupid, because they are two characters that have been 2 of Luffy’s
biggest allies, but have you ever wondered why Bon Kurei joined Crocodile?
He doesn’t seem like the cold blooded type, at least when he’s around Luffy.
But Crocodile was also looking for an ancient weapon in Alabasta, that was his whole mission
there.
And Bon kurei has been associated with Impel Down as well.
Now you might already hate me for defiling Bon Kurei’s memory, but surely there is
nothing shady going on with Bartolomeo.
Well, remember, that Bartolomeo burned one of Shanks’ flags and claimed his island
for Luffy.
An action that’s basically means Luffy declaring war on Shanks, something the Yonko has very
much noticed.
A very strange thing for Barto to do.
And remember Apoo and his men running into the sky?
Well the only other ability that could explain that except Shiki himself, would be Bartolomeo’s
slash the old Kurozumi dude’s barrier power, as we have seen it used on Dressrosa.
Apoo became part of Kaido’s crew after this strange event happened.
So could Shiki have recruited him as an inside man?
Plan to take out Kaido.
Plan to take out Shanks.
Using Luffy’s powers and role as Joy Boy for himself.
What about big mom?
Well remember Bege and his levitating adventure?
Next time we see Bege, he has married into Big Mom’s family to the sister of Lola,
who was supposed to marry Loki, the Prince of the Giants.
And since big Mom and the giants aren’t on speaking terms, because of a certain incident,
how did Loki get the opportunity to fall in love with Lola?
Again we have a rival, Big Mom, a road poneglyph and Elbaf, an island heavily associated with
the missing ancient weapon uranus.
i made a whole video on that in case you’re interested.
And now, Big mom has also disappeared from the playing field.
What about Whitebeard?
He got infiltrated and manipulated by Blackbeard.
And while there isn’t anything that proves Shiki’s involvement here, both of them are
connected through Rocks, with Shiki being the only one who shared his captains dream
of world domination.
And we have of course Caribou, a character, who is with the straw hats right now, who
knows the location of not one but 2 ancient weapons and who wants to report his findings
to a mysterious person as soon as possible.
Admittedly, the fact that Shiki has already been revealed as the major villain of a non-canon
film makes his reappearance more unlikely than if he had just been name-dropped.
However it also gave Oda the chance to implement and introduce him as a character without messing
up his storyline.
He actually came out and said that he wanted to write Shiki into the story before the film,
but felt that it would overwhelm the audience during the Alabasta Saga, where concepts like
poneglyphs, were just being introduced.
I think there is a really good chance, that oda wanted us to know who this lurking legend
is and what he’s capable of, so that his reveal as the evil mastermind at the end of
the story hits us a lot more than if it were a new character we have never seen before.
A character that might already have taken out 3 of 4 original rivals for the one piece,
who works with one of the new yonko and is trying to start a war between the other 2.
All to finally fullfil his dream to become the ruler of pirates, and thus in his own
words the ruler of the seas.
A dream that his rival Roger managed to fulfill before him.
And I think that these two characters actually used to be friends, something that Shiki hints
at in this panel here.
Shiki wears japanese cloths, but wano isn’t the only country in one piece that has a japanese
theme going on.
In the east blue, that Shiki despises for some reason, there is an island called the
Oykot kingdom, which is literally Tokyo spelled backwards*.
And guess what.
It’s where Belmere found Nami and Nojiko after it was destroyed by pirates.
Belmere, who we saw in chapter 0 saying that she’d come for Shiki if he ever came to
the east blue again.
Maybe Shiki came for Nami’s hometown, for his hometown, which Oda hinted at with Nami’s
and Shiki’s relationship in Strong World.
And if Shiki is from the east blue, he would have become friends with the group of upcoming
rookies there.
Garp, Roger and Rocks.
But if you want to hear the full story for that, you can click here to watch that video
next.