One Piece's Mother Flame may be the natural enemy of "Mother Sea," Devil Fruit users, and even the Gorosei

Modified May 17, 2024 00:30 GMT

Prior to author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga series entering a break week, fans were given what’s undoubtedly one of the most revelatory chapters in the entire story thus far. One of the biggest highlights among these reveals was the appearance of the Mother Flame weapon, sending the theorycrafting community of the series into a frenzied tailspin as they try to make sense of it.

Likewise, one of the most intriguing theories to come from this sect of the One Piece fandom is the idea that the Mother Flame could be the natural enemy of “Mother Sea.” The very way in which the alleged weapon was introduced suggests this, as does the idea that this seemingly eternal flame could be the enemy of Devil Fruit users, the Gorosei, and more.

One Piece’s Mother Flame weapon seemingly introduced as the perfect counter to the Gorosei

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One of the first inklings of the idea came in the form of the very first One Piece panels showing the Mother Flame, establishing it as a fire which can burn even when surrounded by water. Combined with the previous use of the weapon seemingly gouging a hole out of the sea, this suggests that the Mother Flame is the perfect counter against the sea.

It’s also worth mentioning that Gorosei member Saint Jaygarcia Saturn was hurt, or at least bothered, by the light of the Mother Flame itself when he uncovered it. Likewise, Devil Fruits are said to be the “Sea Devil’s incarnations,” as established by Shanks early on in the series. It’s possible that Saturn could potentially be a Sea Devil, or at the very least, has powers based on Devil Fruits and the Sea Devils, explaining why he was hurt/bothered by its light.

This also goes hand in hand with the popular One Piece theory that Imu is meant to represent an Umibozu, also known as a Sea Devi in Japanese folklore. This idea is further supported by the fact that the Gorosei’s transformed states all have black clouds, whereas Luffy’s Gear 5 form is given a white cloud.

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Similarly, the Romance Dawn one-shot (which is essentially the prototype of the One Piece storyline) sees Luffy’s Devil Fruit called a Dream Fruit instead. This idea may have carried over into the mainline series, hence why Luffy’s cloud is white while those surrounding all other Awakened Zoan-type users have been shown as black thus far.

Likewise, Luffy’s Fruit could actually be a Dream Fruit and serve as the enemy of the “Mother Sea,” whereas the Gorosei have real Devil Fruits and are the enemies of the Mother Flame. In other words, the Gorosei’s Devil Fruits coming from the Sea Devil Imu make them allies of the “Mother Sea,” meaning the Mother Flame is opposed to them.

In turn, this suggests that Luffy’s Dream Fruit makes him an enemy of the Mother Sea, which would fall in line with so-called “Devil Fruits” robbing their users of the ability to swim in seawater. This also falls in line with the idea of Seastone prohibiting the use of these powers, since it mimics the sea. In turn, the Mother Flame could be the sun’s version of Seastone, mimicking its power and might in a smaller form.

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Furthermore, despite being Sun God Nika in reincarnated form, Luffy is still unable to hurt the Gorosei despite his best efforts. He’ll most likely begin using his flames to hurt them via the true power of the sun, falling in line with the above assertions. Again, this is under the assumption that the Gorosei’s powers come from the “true” Devil Fruits, whereas Luffy’s “Devil” Fruit is actually a Dream Fruit.

In turn, One Piece could be suggesting that Luffy hasn’t fully matured as the Sun God. To compare it to the lifecycle of a real-world star, he has yet to mature into the Red Giant phase of a star’s life. In other words, by becoming the equivalent of a Red Giant as Sun God Nika, Luffy will be able to hurt the Gorosei. He’ll achieve this via channeling the power of the sun in the same way the Mother Flame does, which has already been teased as harmful to the Gorosei.