CREDITS TO WHOM DID THIS RESEARCH WILL BE SAID AT THE END OF THIS CONVERSATION. AND I KNOW IT'S A LOT TO TAKE IN.
Before Jumping to conclusions, I want you guys to know about what happened Jump Festa of 2018. In Jump Festa 2018 which took place on December of 2017, ODA mentioned this in his statement :
By The End Of The Year, Something That Will Happen,
Will Be The Introduction Of A Legend Lurking In The World Of One Piece, They WILL BE THE BIGGEST ENEMY Luffy And The Others Have Ever Faced, And At Some Point They Will Stand In Our Way. Perhaps There's Someone Connected To WHITEBEARD? Ah, I've Talked A Little Too Much. The Paramount War? Can You Believe That Will Make It Look Cute By Comparison?
Furthermore ODA adds that this Lurking Legend might be related or connected to WHITEBEARD in some form or another and then this lurking legend alone will make whitebeard and the summit war look cute by comparison?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now Some People Think This Could Be Referring To KAIDO And To Be Fair There's A Lot That Supports That,
KAIDO appear within the story as an antagonist of the straw hats in 2018, he is without a doubt the strongest enemy the straw hats have ever faced and
he does have a connection with WHITEBEARD
These things could suggest that perhaps the LURKING LEGEND was just ODA referring to
KAIDO BUT that doesn't really fully add up!!!
For starters KAIDO is not a LURKING LEGEND, the term used here is “hisomu”, which represents the concept of something lurking, something that is concealed or hidden, something that is lying Dormant for its time to resurface, something that lurks is, something that has stayed hidden for a long time for a chance to make the reappearance
And Since the context here is someone who is lurking in the world of one piece itself, it means that they're hidden not just to the readers but also to the people of this world and KAIDO is not hidden he's one of the most renowned pirates in the world, So he really doesn't fit his definition
Furthermore while it's true that KAIDO finally properly appeared in 2018 to the STRAW HATS as their opponent.
It's not really his introduction, his introduction
was back in 2015. Technically KAIDO'S true introduction was in 2007 when he was first mentioned by GECKO MORIA.
SPOILER ALERT
NOW, There is someone else who perfectly fits a role of Lurking Legend, Unlikely this character has been
hidden in the World Of One Piece AND THAT PERSON IS,
Rocks D. Xebec
XEBEC is someone who was introduced back in 2018.
Only by name but that still qualifies as being introduced to the story he's someone who perfectly feeds the definition of a Legend Lurking in the world of One Piece, a brand Newly referred to the Rock's Pirates as a legendary crew and their existence has been hidden away by the World Government.
But If Xebec ever were to come back, then he would perfectly fit this definition of someone who has been
lurking in the shadows of the world of One Piece.
And Specifically this lines up with Garp's Statement in chapter 907, “It's pointless to worry while it would be a threat if they were to make a comeback and that incident would no doubt be bigger than anything we could imagine”.
Garp is quite literally stating that if Rocks were to ever make a comeback then the incident that would take place would be something beyond any of their imaginations.
And speaking of that, XEBEC does have a very close connection to WHITEBEARD, he was WHITEBEARD'S captain after all, So it all lines up but then this would imply that XEBEC IS STILL ALIVE and that he's going to come back for sure, and he will reappear and be the strongest enemy the straw hats have ever faced.
So it all ends up and In fact, pretty much implies that Xebec is still kicking and might even become a major
villain during the events after WANO, in the final saga.
I believe that in the final Saga, BLACKBEARD Is The Central Antagonist Of One Piece, he ideals his place within the story his relationship with Luffy and how he has been built up since very early on,
I mean Since the chapter one if you consider Shanks's Scar as foreshadowing, he just makes sense to be the final Antagonist and the major opponent Luffy will face in trying to become Pirate King.
And I definitely don't want blackbeard to be shouting about some random new Super Powerful Villain this late in the story.
But here's the thing we already have a problem because XEBEC is not the only major villain who has been introduced this late into the series because we have IMU to contend with,
KING IMU or IM is a major villain, someone who despite having zero feet of proof of his strength,
many believe to already be among the Strongest enemies in the series simply by the position he holds,
So given the fact that IMU exists.
And that the straw hats will most likely have to face IMU at some point in the final saga,
The truth is that we already have a super villain introduced close to the end that could easily outshine
BLACKBEARD.
So I get that people might not be happy with the concept of Xebec coming back As i'm not either.
We already have to deal with the reality that someone like IMU Exists
BUT WOULDN'T TWO MAJOR ANTAGONISTS LIKE ROX AND IMU, ON TOP OF BLACKBEARD AND OTHER
FIGURES LIKE AKAINU BE A LITTLE OVERKILL FOR THE FINAL SAGA.
Doesn't that feel like it doesn't quite make much sense
SO WHAT IF WE FLIP THIS QUESTION ON ITS HEAD,
What If This Big Great Antagonist This Lurking Legend Of Source That ODA Speaks Of,
“IS NOT XEBEC NOR IMU BUT BOTH.”
If You Think Back To It, These Two Were Introduced Simultaneously During The Reverie.
In chapter 906 We first saw IMU and In Chapter 907
‘Rox’ was first mentioned and In chapter 908 ‘IMU’ sat on the Throne Showing who he really is.
Isn't it quite peculiar that all of these events happen one after the other and most importantly of all there is one connecting piece that makes everything come together and is the fact that,
XEBEC'S AMBITION WAS TO BECOME THE KING OF THE WORLD. And Who is IMU? THE KING OF THE WORLD.
What Xebec Wanted To Become Is Who Emu Is?
Let's Say IF THESE TWO ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON? THEY ARE ATLEAST VERY DEEPLY CONNECTED.
AND IF THEY ARE THE SAME PERSON,
it would just make sense it means that XEBEC was able to fulfill his ambition to become "KING OF THE WORLD".
But Almost Everyone In The World of One Piece Never Realised This Happened, Because IMU's Existence Has Been Kept A Secret This Whole Time, Known Only To Very Few Selected Individuals.
This could have happened maybe XEBEC threatened the GOROSEI with his power, Knowledge or Status as ‘D’ or in some other form but there's definitely many-many ways that ODA could go about achieving this, so it's not like it's really something unrealistic.
There is a possibility that IMU and XEBEC could be the same person, making Zebec's role within the story
fit, even if Xebec is Not IMU which is also quite possible it's clear there is a Connection between the two of them.
ALL THE CREDIT OF THIS RESEARCH GOES TO ARTUR WHO IS AN YOUTUBER. HIS YT CHANNEL'S NAME IS, ‘The Library Of Ohara'
