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One Piece Chapter 1036 scanlations were released earlier this week, and fans have been incredibly appreciative of the chapter. From the end of Zoro vs. King to the start of Luffy vs. Kaido, fans seem unable to find anything truly wrong with the chapter.
Caution: This article contains spoilers!
One Piece Chapter 1036 also gave fans another King and Kaido flashback. In this One Piece Chapter 1036 flashback, Kaido asks King if King still thinks he’s Joy Boy, to which King responds that legends are legends and that doesn’t matter anymore.
The significance of this One Piece Chapter 1036 flashback is that King and Kaido know about Joy Boy without having read the Poneglyphs. Combining this with previous facts pertaining to Joy Boy, we can tell from One Piece Chapter 1036 onward that Luffy is undoubtedly Joy Boy.
One Piece Chapter 1036 flashback finally solidifies Luffy as Joy Boy via connections to other facts and theories
One Piece Chapter 1036 flashback and its relevance
In the One Piece Chapter 1036 flashback, Kaido asks King if King still thinks he can be Joy Boy. King responds saying legends are legends, and it doesn’t matter to King anymore. The largest implication here is that Kaido and King both knew of Joy Boy before coming to Wano, as indicated by Kaido’s lack of facial hair.
The most logical answer for how the two know of Joy Boy is through King and his Lunarian heritage. Being a Lunarian, King likely has knowledge of his people's history and most likely knows of some interaction between the Lunarians and Joy Boy. In other words, perhaps the Sea Kings and fish people weren’t the only ones Joy Boy made a promise with.
One prevalent theory regarding Joy Boy’s identity is that he was a ruler during the Void Century who, like Big Mom, tried creating a nation of all races unified. It’s presumed this is how Joy Boy’s promise (which eventually went unfulfilled) came to be. However, Joy Boy’s promise did say someone will come along to fulfill his promise, should he fail. This is why the Sea Kings have kept Noah safe for 900 years.
One Piece Chapter 1036: The Sea King’s prophecy
In One Piece Chapter 968, Oden and Roger overhear the Sea Kings discussing their prophecy via the Voice of All Things. The Sea Kings discuss how their sovereign (Poseidon/Shirahoshi) would soon be born, while another in a distant sea also would be (Joy Boy/Luffy). The Sea Kings continue saying the whales are delighted with anticipation for when the two sovereigns meet.
The Sea Kings continue saying they’ve been waiting for so long, and that all will surely go well next time, before ending with a timeline. Apparently, there are 10 years until the birth of their sovereign and another 15 for them to grow. The two sovereigns referenced are most likely the incarnations of two Void Century rulers, Joy Boy and Poseidon (Luffy and Shirahoshi).
The prophecy explicitly states the two sovereigns will meet again in roughly 25 years, which from that point, would’ve been when Luffy and Shirahoshi met. This all relates to One Piece Chapter 1036, as this idea of reincarnation must’ve spread outside the Fishman culture to others, and is likely how King and Kaido knew of Joy Boy.
It’s also a safe assumption that neither knew of Joy Boy through the Sea Kings prophecy or the Poneglyphs. If they did, the two surely would’ve realized that the timing of the prophecy and their lives don’t add up, since Joy Boy had to have been born after Oden and Roger heard the prophecy.
Thus, it makes sense that King would assume Kaido is Joy Boy. As seen through One Piece Chapter 1036, Kaido is one of, if not the strongest, pirate of his era and acts as a hero for oppressed races such as his own Oni race and King’s Lunarian race. However, Kaido eventually realizes he’s not Joy Boy and that it must be someone else.
Oden’s Return to Wano and final connections to One Piece Chapter 1036
This realization is reinforced when Oden returns to Wano saying they must open the ports in preparation for Joy Boy’s return. The implication here is that Joy Boy already recently or will soon be been born somewhere in the world at this point. This further supports Kaido's sentiment of him not being Joy Boy, as expressed in One Piece Chapter 1036.
Keeping this in mind, One Piece Chapter 1014 sees Kaido defeat Luffy and say Luffy couldn’t be Joy Boy either. While Luffy does prove Kaido wrong on being dead and defeated, the major implication here is that Kaido at one point felt that Luffy could be Joy Boy.
Indeed, the evidence is nearly irrefutable, especially in light of One Piece Chapter 1036. Since Shirahoshi is essentially confirmed as being Poseidon, Luffy being Joy Boy only makes sense, given the Sea King’s prophecy. The prophecy is a meeting between the two, which does successfully happen and checks all the prophecy’s boxes.
When the two met, Shirahoshi had already matured and grown as far as the prophecy needed her to. Luffy’s meeting with Shirahoshi also awakened her powers over the Sea Kings, which successfully made her their sovereign and indicated another completed portion of the prophecy.
Finally, Madame Shyarly’s prediction of Luffy’s destruction of Fishman Island is the last piece of the puzzle. Assuming the race unifying theory of Joy Boy is true, then once Luffy fulfills Joy Boy’s promise it makes sense that Fishman Island would be destroyed. If the Fishman people are living on the surface world, there’s no need for Fishman Island to exist anymore.
In addition, Fishman Island is located directly under Mariejois on the Red Line. It’s incredibly likely that Fishman Island is destroyed as a result of Luffy destroying Mariejois and that section of the Red Line in the process. This is the only way the All Blue can be created, something that will certainly happen; being Sanji’s dream and all.
Finally, the final part of the Sea Kings prophecy says that the whales are delighted with anticipation for the day the two sovereigns meet. In One Piece Chapter 654, Oda illustrates a pod of whales being incredibly excited and joyful as the Straw Hats enter the New World. With this, quite literally every part of the Sea King’s prophecy is fulfilled by the time the Straw Hats enter the New World and set sights on Wano.
With One Piece Chapter 1036 confirming Kaido and King have no prophetic or Poneglyph based knowledge of Joy Boy, it’s clear that Luffy is the true successor. The narrative built to support this over the New World is simply too clear to ignore, and One Piece Chapter 1036 provides the final piece of that puzzle.
In summation
With the release of One Piece Chapter 1036, help from a prominent and solid theory, and clues throughout the story, it’s finally undeniable that Luffy is Joy Boy. One Piece Chapter 1036 provides such a subtle yet integral clue to understanding that Luffy is indeed Joy Boy.
Like Joy Boy, Luffy has been bringing people of various races throughout the One Piece world together as the story goes on. Combined with his perfectly aligned fulfillment of the Sea Kings’ prophecy, there can be no doubt Luffy is Joy Boy and will fulfill Joy Boy’s promise to Fishman Island.
Be sure to support One Piece Chapter 1036’s official release on Sunday, January 2, 2022 at 11AM EST on various Shonen Jump platforms. With the way One Piece Chapter 1036 is looking, the story is only going to get more thrilling from here.
