So the Poneglyphs do guide one to Raftel!
And so the story shifts back to journey towards Raftel and the dangers awaiting the Straw Hat Pirates in their path. The Red Poneglyph aka. “Road Poneglyph” serves as a guide to reaching the final point of the Grand Line, Raftel. Carved in four Red Poneglpyhs are the locations of certain points which when joined reveal the location of Raftel at the point where all the lines intersect. With one of the stones found, Nico Robin now needs to read the remaining three in order to find the location of Raftel. Easier said than done though as two Yonko each have in their possession a Red Poneglyph.
With Big Mom and Kaidou possessing one of the Red Poneglyphs each, it now seems certain that they will be the next two major antagonist the Straw Hats Pirates will face. We may not get any of those battles for years, but at the very least it is now apparent that the story is focusing on the Big Mom Pirates and the Beast Pirates. And as such, I am quite excited to see the different characters residing within each of the crews. Hopefully with the Yonko crews being the target of the focus now, we will get battles that challenge the Straw Hats Pirates (not just Luffy). With half the crew missing from Dressrosa and the other half not really being pushed to the extremes, the crew has not at this point shown exactly what they are capable of, especially Zoro.
Oh my goodness Luffy, my mind honestly didn’t register that possibility before you mentioned it…
With Luffy and Co. heading to Whole Cake Island with Pekoms, the story is at this point focusing on the Straw Hat Pirates battle against the Big Mom Pirates or at least the initiation of that battle. On top of freeing Sanji from the arranged marriage, the Straw Hat Pirates now have a second objective – to find the Road Poneglyph in Big Mom’s possession and get an imprint copy of the text. Not sure how the Straw Hat Pirates will locate where the Road Poneglyph is hidden in Whole Cake Island (if it is there), but chances are one of the Big Mom Pirates or one of the Charlotte Family will help the Straw Hats. If not, than Mr. Prince will have to unleash.
Oh Zoro, where are you
Really glad the concerns of Robin’s safety is brought into the light this chapter as ever since finding out that Robin is the only person who can decipher the Poneglyphs and that the Poneglyphs can help lead the way to Raftel, I have wondered why more people besides the government aren’t after Robin – Doflamingo certainly wasn’t interested in her much, which I guess illustrates his lack of interest in finding One Piece and the Pirate King title. The closer the Straw Hat Pirates get to Raftel, the more danger Robin will face, but as it turns out, she has nothing to worry about with “strong and reliable friends” like the Straw Hat Pirates. Ah if only Sanji was there to hear that, his reaction would have been priceless. Zoro’s lack of reaction itself was amusing.
So the Kouzuki Clan created the Poneglyphs
The Kouzuki Clan, well snap, so they are the creators of the Poneglyphs. 800 years ago they used their skills to create “books” with messages engraved in them, messages that reveal the truth of the world and its history, messages that will not be destroyed. Based on what Raizou said, the means to read and write the ancient glyph was passed down the Kouzuki Clan. The last person this knowledge was imparted to was Momonosuke’s father, Lord Oden Kouzuki, who was executed by the Shogun of the Wano Kingdom and Kaidou. Lord Oden sacrificed himself to ensure his son’s safety and to make sure the means to read and write the ancient glyph ended with him. So Robin really is the only person at this point who can decipher the Poneglyphs.
So that is why Kaido was after Oden
Lord Oden was targeted because he was privy to the “secrets of the world”, he along with Gol D. Roger, journeyed to the final Island on the Grand Island, Raftel. Because of that knowledge and experiences, Lord Oden became valuable to a few pirates, in particular Kaido. Now it seems the Beast Pirates are after Lord Oden’s retainers and his son, Momonosuke. The state of the Wano Country seem incredibly unstable with the Beast Pirates currently occupying it. Whenever Oda-sensei does get around to focusing on the Wano Country, I will be looking forward to Lord Oden’s flashbacks and any scene that features Gol D. Roger – potentially more information on the Will of D. But before that, we will have the Sanji issue to deal with and I am interested to see how Luffy ends up handling having to go against both the Big Mom Pirates and the Vinsmoke Family. Looking forward to the next chapter.
12Dimension 