One Piece's Mother Flame might be inspired by a Star Wars superweapon

One of the most shocking aspects of the Egghead arc of author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga has been the introduction of the Mother Flame weapon. Seemingly controlled by Imu and the Gorosei members, many suspect its true identity to be the third and final Ancient Weapon, Uranus.

Regardless of its true identity, the Mother Flame has sparked plenty of discussion within the series’ theory-crafting community since it was first introduced. While many One Piece fans have tried to equate the weapon to those found in other famous media franchises, very few have actually drawn a convincing enough connection.

One theory on the enigmatic One Piece weapon, however, actually does make a convincing argument and links the Mother Flame to a significant enough franchise. Created by X (formerly known as Twitter) user @spiritofjoyboy (Shambles), this theory suggests a connection to the Star Wars franchise and its ultimate villain between the Mother Flame and its user, Imu.

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One Piece Mother Flame theory, explained

In their thread, Shambles begins by asserting the connections between One Piece’s Mother Flame and Star Wars’ Starkiller Base. Obviously, at their base level, both are weapons designed to erase the entirety of a civilization or geographical region at once. It’s then pointed out that both weapons created a red sky on their use, albeit the Mother Flame first making a green sky which turned red.

The weapons are also portrayed in the exact same way, both capable of firing multiple blasts which are each very deadly. It also pointed out how the reactions of those facing the respective attacks were extremely similar, as were the impacts of the attacks themselves in terms of what they destroyed/affected.

The One Piece theory then points out how Starkiller Base drew its power from the energy of stars, granting it access to unlimited energy as long as it had a source to pull from. Dr. Vegapunk, the famed Marine scientist who debuted during the Egghead arc, could also be searching for or have discovered a similar type of energy source.

Shambles also asserts that the Starkiller Base attack was deliberately designed to be seen by those all over the galaxy, in order to encourage them to surrender to the First Order. The Mother Flame is also used similarly, erasing those who pose a threat to the World Government and serving as a warning to those who would potentially rebel.

The One Piece theory then discusses the respective leaders of the two factions controlling the weapons, beginning with the First Order’s Supreme Leader Snoke. As it’s revealed in the film franchise, Snoke was an artificial genetic construct made by the former Emperor Palpatine, the true Dark Lord of the Sith, as a proxy he could manipulate for his own goals.

Shambles then suggests that Imu’s true identity could be of a similar nature, suggesting that Imu is a spirit or force which is possessing another’s body and mind. They could even be influencing the host in acting with a specific agenda and purpose in mind which affects the entirety of the in-series world.

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