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Hey all,
A theory I’ve been thinking about for some time and decided to put the finishing touches on.
Enjoy!
Right, let’s start with this picture of the Seven Deadly Sins and the four last things.
It’s a picture of a painting completed around the year 1500 or later by the painter Hieronymus Bosch, or one of his followers. It’s currently located in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The painting shows 4 small circles, detailing the four last things, which are:
- Death
- Judgement
- Heaven
- Hell
The 4 small circles surround a larger circle in which the seven deadly sins are shown:
- Wrath
- Envy
- Greed
- Gluttony
- Sloth
- Lust
- Pride
We all know Oda used multiple things as inspiration for One Piece and Christianity is one of those (as seen with Adam/Eve and Devil Fruits). I previously always believed that the seven Royal Warlords were based on the old quotes of a Pirate from the seven seas (the 7 oceans in the world). Something similar has been mentioned by Crocodile in One Piece.
And while I have tried to link the different warlords to the different seas in One Piece, I regretfully came to the conclusion that there are actually more then 7 seas in One Piece:
- We have the 4 Blues - East/West/North/South
- We have the Grand Line - can be divided between Paradise and New World
- There are the Calm Belts - which there are actually 4 off
- We have the seas in the Sky - White Sea, White White Sea, etc.
Hence I wanted to go a different route for the royal warlords. If you think of the number 7 one of the most popular uses of it is with the 7 deadly sins of Christianity. When I started researching the deadly sins I found that picture which also included the 4 last things. This seemed to fit as we have/had 7 warlords and 4 yonkou.
So basically in this theory I wanted to try and link each Warlord with a cardinal sin, and see which Yonkou fitted the 4 last things best. Before I can do that I first want to quickly go over the different Warlords we had.
The original 7 were (in order that they were mentioned/shown up):
- Mihawk
- Jimbei
- Crocodile
- Doflamingo
- Kuma
- Moria
- Hancock
During the story some of them were replaced by:
- Blackbeard
- Law
- Weevil
- Buggy
We know that Blackbeard was the direct replacement of Crocodile but for the others it is unknown. I tried to keep the links going and placing the replacements under the Warlords I think they replaced and thus which sins they should also represent.
Let’s start with the Lust:
Lust, or lechery, is usually thought of as intense or unbridled sexual desire. However, lust could also mean unbridled desire in general. For example: lust for money, power, and other things that are sinful.
Now the most obvious choice for this would be Boa Hancock.
The other individual that comes to mind would be Buggy as he has shown a lust for money but we can also file that under the sin greed which is why Hancock stays the best fit. One other thing I found that fits her well is that in Dante’s Inferno, unforgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds. This nicely fits with Hancock falling in love with Luffy, which Oda often described with: Love can be like a hurricane.
The next sin would be Gluttony:
Gluttony is the over indulgence and over consumption of anything to the point of waste. While it is often considered a sin of excessive desire for food, it could also be seen as an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and costly foods.
Now the most obvious choice would be Luffy but since he is not a Royal Warlord I had to improvise which is why I ended up with Mihawk.
Jokes aside, the actual main reason I chose Mihawk is because he doesn’t really fit any of the other sins. You could make a small case for Sloth but that doesn’t fit him going to East Blue to hunt down Don Kreeg. Greatest Swordsman involves some pride sure but he wasn’t against admitting that Whitebeard was greater then him. Hence I am just imagining him to have the same alcohol problem as Zoro and leaving it at that.
Which brings us the next sin which would Greed:
Similar to lust and gluttony, greed is a sin of desire. Greed is seen as an artificial, rapacious desire and pursuit of material possessions. It is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more then one needs, specifically to material wealth.
I had some difficulties with this one but decided to settle on Crocodile.
My other reasons for choosing Crocodile involve his replacement / replacements. Let’s start with Blackbeard.
Last but not least we should remember that Blackbeard betrayed the Marines/WG during Impel Down/Marine Ford and was replaced himself. The most obvious replacement is off course Buggy.
Which brings us to number four of the sins, halfway there, which is Sloth:
Sloth is a bit tricky. It’s probably best defined as an absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion. It’s expressed in laziness, idleness, and indolence.
I had Mihawk here for some time but decided to change the two around in the end since Moria fits Sloth better than Gluttony (had him taken shadows as glutton but sloth works better).
Furthermore he prefers not to fight himself and let his Shadow or Zombies do the fighting for him. This together with his actions on Thriller Bark make him fit Sloth allot better then Mihawk would.
Now similar to Crocodile and Blackbeard, Moria was also replaced as a Royal Warlord. I think his replacement was Weevil, the self-titled Son of Whitebeard.
Next is going to be Wrath:
Wrath is defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. It’s often revealed in the wish to seek vengeance.
Now the obvious choice here would be the man in the pink coat, Doflamingo.
I believe however that Wrath belongs to someone else who is less obvious and that is Kuma.
Let’s start with the fact that Kuma was once feared as an extremely vicious pirate, even earning himself the title “Tyrant”. While this might all have been a part of one of the schemes of the Revolutionaries, the fact remains that we don’t know what Kuma has done to give him this reputation. So just keep in mind that Kuma’s past might not be as clean as we are led to believe due to his actions so far.
Next would be that wrath is often revealed in the wish to seek vengeance. We learned that the main aim of the Revolutionaries is to overthrow the World Government and to get rid of the Celestial Dragons. Kuma, once part of the Revs, likely shared this aim/wish.
Furthermore, while wrath often manifests in certain ways like impatience, hateful misanthropy, and revenge, it can also manifest in self-destructive behavior. We learned that Kuma volunteered for the Pacifista project, knowing full well the consequences (his mind/personality being erased). Whether he chose this as a result of a plan by the Revolutionaries, or to possibly pay for earlier sins, still hasn’t been revealed.
Last and maybe least, it was stated by Henry Edward in “Sin and its consequences” that angry people are ‘slaves to themselves’. Might not mean much but wanted to throw it in there as it nicely links to Kuma having ended up as a slave to the Celestial Dragons.
Number 6 (almost there) will be Envy:
Envy, similar to greed and lust, is characterized by an insatiable desire. It is described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. While it is similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someone’s traits, status, abilities, or rewards, a difference is that the envious also desire the entity and covet it.
Right, instead of wrath I decided to put Doflamingo here.
This refusal seems to be the driving force behind Doflamingo’s rage and the reason he wants to destroy anything connected to the Celestial Dragons, in this case the world. His envy of the Celestial Dragons, their power and wealth, makes Doflamingo fit this sin more than just simply wrath because he seems angry most of the time.
The last of the 7 deadly sins is Pride:
Pride is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins. It is identified as dangerously corrupt selfishness, the putting of one’s own desire, urges, wants, and whims before the welfare of other people.
In more destructive cases, it is irrationally believing that one is essentially and necessarily better, superior, or more important than others, failing to acknowledge the accomplishments of others, and excessive admiration of the personal image.
The last Warlord left that should fit this is Jimbei.
The relationship between humans and fishman is complicated in One Piece. On one hand we have the humans that believe they are better and have discriminated against fishman for a long time.
The opposite also is true in some cases, best showcased by Arlong who Jimbei had allowed to run free in East Blue. One of Arlong defining traits was that he believed Fishman were better then humans. The only human he held in some regard was Nami for her map making skills. Arlong’s legacy continued on in Fishman Island by Hody Jones and his crew.
And while Jimbei himself doesn’t appear to see him better then others there are some cases where he shows pride, if one a more positive side. There was his pride as a Fishman when he decided to join Fisher Tiger to start the Sun Pirates. There was also his pride as a friend of Whitebeard, joining the Whitebeard pirates in defending their father’s back.
Finally we could say there is his pride in Luffy and the Strawhats, going as far as standing up to Big Mom when he decided to quit her crew to join Luffy.
It’s a bit weak overall but Jimbei seems to fit Pride more than any other sins.
Last but not least is Trafalgar Law who I believe to have been Jimbei replacement.
Law fits with pride because of his respect for Corazon and his pride in being one of the D. clan. The main reason Law was after Doflamingo was for vengeance for Corazon, the person he looked up to. Law didn’t mind dying on Dressrosa as he was certain that Luffy would take down Doflamingo in the end, being another of the D.
On a side-note I want to add that Law didn’t mind getting on Kaido’s bad side for disrupting the smile fruit factory. As long as he could take down Doflamingo he didn’t seem to have planned for the casualties that might have risen from either Doflamingo’s or Kaido vengeance.
With the 7 deadly sins and the Royal Warlords out of the way we can now focus on the 4 last things and the Yonkou.
A quick reminder, these were the 4 last things:
- Death
- Judgement
- Heaven
- Hell
The Yonkous are:
- Whitebeard (replaced by Blackbeard)
- Big Mom
- Kaido
- Shanks
As for the 4 last things they are the 4 last things that happen to a person/soul in Christianity.
1. First would be death, the person dies.
2. Next is Judgement, the soul is judged based on their life.
3. Then either the soul is sent to heaven, if they lived a good life.
4. Or they are send to Hell, if they have been naughty.
I’m not going to explain each one (as I did for the sins) since they should be straightforward but I might go into some details when it contains specific notions.
Let’s start with Death:
This should be either Whitebeard/Blackbeard or Shanks.
Whitebeard is the obvious one since he already died in One Piece and its likely Blackbeard will come to a similar fate. I’ve been considering putting Shanks here but I think he is better placed somewhere else.
Next is Judgement:
This is either Shanks or Big Mom. I’ve been thinking of putting Big Mom here since here Devil Fruit ability has some links to this but I think Shanks fits here better.
My reasoning for this is that I believe Shanks to be the final Yonkou either Luffy or Blackbeard has to face before they can reach the One Piece. Being able to defeat Shanks should serve as judgement whether they are qualified to inherit Gol D. Roger’s throne as Pirate King.
We continue with Heaven:
I originally had Whitebeard here, as his crew seemed to fit heaven the most in the way they all looked up to him (+ friendly atmosphere overall) but it doesn’t really fit Blackbeard (except for him telling Luffy that Sky Island exists).
Instead I went with Big Mom since her territory, Totland, seems to fit heaven.
Last would be Hell:
This seems best suited to Kaido.
And that's the theory. Let me know what you thought in the comments and whether you would have placed the Warlords/Yonkou somewhere else.
Franky Out!
A theory I’ve been thinking about for some time and decided to put the finishing touches on.
Enjoy!
Right, let’s start with this picture of the Seven Deadly Sins and the four last things.
It’s a picture of a painting completed around the year 1500 or later by the painter Hieronymus Bosch, or one of his followers. It’s currently located in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The painting shows 4 small circles, detailing the four last things, which are:
- Death
- Judgement
- Heaven
- Hell
The 4 small circles surround a larger circle in which the seven deadly sins are shown:
- Wrath
- Envy
- Greed
- Gluttony
- Sloth
- Lust
- Pride
We all know Oda used multiple things as inspiration for One Piece and Christianity is one of those (as seen with Adam/Eve and Devil Fruits). I previously always believed that the seven Royal Warlords were based on the old quotes of a Pirate from the seven seas (the 7 oceans in the world). Something similar has been mentioned by Crocodile in One Piece.
And while I have tried to link the different warlords to the different seas in One Piece, I regretfully came to the conclusion that there are actually more then 7 seas in One Piece:
- We have the 4 Blues - East/West/North/South
- We have the Grand Line - can be divided between Paradise and New World
- There are the Calm Belts - which there are actually 4 off
- We have the seas in the Sky - White Sea, White White Sea, etc.
Hence I wanted to go a different route for the royal warlords. If you think of the number 7 one of the most popular uses of it is with the 7 deadly sins of Christianity. When I started researching the deadly sins I found that picture which also included the 4 last things. This seemed to fit as we have/had 7 warlords and 4 yonkou.
So basically in this theory I wanted to try and link each Warlord with a cardinal sin, and see which Yonkou fitted the 4 last things best. Before I can do that I first want to quickly go over the different Warlords we had.
The original 7 were (in order that they were mentioned/shown up):
- Mihawk
- Jimbei
- Crocodile
- Doflamingo
- Kuma
- Moria
- Hancock
During the story some of them were replaced by:
- Blackbeard
- Law
- Weevil
- Buggy
We know that Blackbeard was the direct replacement of Crocodile but for the others it is unknown. I tried to keep the links going and placing the replacements under the Warlords I think they replaced and thus which sins they should also represent.
Let’s start with the Lust:
Lust, or lechery, is usually thought of as intense or unbridled sexual desire. However, lust could also mean unbridled desire in general. For example: lust for money, power, and other things that are sinful.
Now the most obvious choice for this would be Boa Hancock.
Hancock is known as the pirate empress and regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world. We can further combine this with her Devil Fruit ability which allows her to turn anyone into stone who shows lustful thoughts to her beauty.
The other individual that comes to mind would be Buggy as he has shown a lust for money but we can also file that under the sin greed which is why Hancock stays the best fit. One other thing I found that fits her well is that in Dante’s Inferno, unforgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds. This nicely fits with Hancock falling in love with Luffy, which Oda often described with: Love can be like a hurricane.
The next sin would be Gluttony:
Gluttony is the over indulgence and over consumption of anything to the point of waste. While it is often considered a sin of excessive desire for food, it could also be seen as an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and costly foods.
Now the most obvious choice would be Luffy but since he is not a Royal Warlord I had to improvise which is why I ended up with Mihawk.
My main reasoning for this involves 2 factors. The first factor is that Gluttony doesn’t only involve foods but also drinks like alcohol. And since Zoro, similar to Luffy, isn’t a Royal Warlord, Mihawk was the next best thing.
Jokes aside, the actual main reason I chose Mihawk is because he doesn’t really fit any of the other sins. You could make a small case for Sloth but that doesn’t fit him going to East Blue to hunt down Don Kreeg. Greatest Swordsman involves some pride sure but he wasn’t against admitting that Whitebeard was greater then him. Hence I am just imagining him to have the same alcohol problem as Zoro and leaving it at that.
Which brings us the next sin which would Greed:
Similar to lust and gluttony, greed is a sin of desire. Greed is seen as an artificial, rapacious desire and pursuit of material possessions. It is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more then one needs, specifically to material wealth.
I had some difficulties with this one but decided to settle on Crocodile.
While Crocodile wasn’t after specifically wealth, his main reasoning for the events of Alabasta was to acquire Pluton, a material possession.
My other reasons for choosing Crocodile involve his replacement / replacements. Let’s start with Blackbeard.
Now while Blackbeard can also possible be put under Envy, as he desired the Devil Fruit that Thatch had found and eaten, I decided to trow him under greed. My reasoning for this is that Blackbeard is likely after the One Piece, another material possession. It would also fit the Crocodile/greed symbol since Blackbeard was Crocodile first replacement.
Last but not least we should remember that Blackbeard betrayed the Marines/WG during Impel Down/Marine Ford and was replaced himself. The most obvious replacement is off course Buggy.
Out of all the new and old Warlords, Buggy is by far the best one suited to the sin of greed. Buggy has been all about money and treasure since we first met him in East Blue. Furthermore his dream involves finding Captain John’s treasure who I believe, if I’m not mistaken, was known as the richest pirate in One Piece. Hence Buggy would be perfect to finish the sin of greed after Crocodile and Blackbeard.
Which brings us to number four of the sins, halfway there, which is Sloth:
Sloth is a bit tricky. It’s probably best defined as an absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion. It’s expressed in laziness, idleness, and indolence.
I had Mihawk here for some time but decided to change the two around in the end since Moria fits Sloth better than Gluttony (had him taken shadows as glutton but sloth works better).
The reason for Moria is quite simple actually in that he wants others to make him pirate king.
Furthermore he prefers not to fight himself and let his Shadow or Zombies do the fighting for him. This together with his actions on Thriller Bark make him fit Sloth allot better then Mihawk would.
Now similar to Crocodile and Blackbeard, Moria was also replaced as a Royal Warlord. I think his replacement was Weevil, the self-titled Son of Whitebeard.
While Weevil could also fit Wrath or Envy in some cases I think he fits Sloth best. Similar to Moria the reasoning is quite simple, in that he has his mother do most, if not all, thinking for him.
Next is going to be Wrath:
Wrath is defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. It’s often revealed in the wish to seek vengeance.
Now the obvious choice here would be the man in the pink coat, Doflamingo.
He certainly fits the description. He was often shown bursting with all/either anger, rage, and hatred, in Dressrosa. A good example would be the throbbing vein whenever something went wrong with his plans. If we combine that with his desire to have vengeance on the whole word (but mainly the Celestial Dragons) he certainly does seem to fit wrath.
I believe however that Wrath belongs to someone else who is less obvious and that is Kuma.
Why Kuma?! You likely ask yourself after you saw me list Doflamingo and probably agreed. Kuma seems the total opposite of Doflamingo if we look at his actions on Thriller Bark and Sabondy. My reasoning for Kuma are kinda complicated.
Let’s start with the fact that Kuma was once feared as an extremely vicious pirate, even earning himself the title “Tyrant”. While this might all have been a part of one of the schemes of the Revolutionaries, the fact remains that we don’t know what Kuma has done to give him this reputation. So just keep in mind that Kuma’s past might not be as clean as we are led to believe due to his actions so far.
Next would be that wrath is often revealed in the wish to seek vengeance. We learned that the main aim of the Revolutionaries is to overthrow the World Government and to get rid of the Celestial Dragons. Kuma, once part of the Revs, likely shared this aim/wish.
Furthermore, while wrath often manifests in certain ways like impatience, hateful misanthropy, and revenge, it can also manifest in self-destructive behavior. We learned that Kuma volunteered for the Pacifista project, knowing full well the consequences (his mind/personality being erased). Whether he chose this as a result of a plan by the Revolutionaries, or to possibly pay for earlier sins, still hasn’t been revealed.
Last and maybe least, it was stated by Henry Edward in “Sin and its consequences” that angry people are ‘slaves to themselves’. Might not mean much but wanted to throw it in there as it nicely links to Kuma having ended up as a slave to the Celestial Dragons.
Number 6 (almost there) will be Envy:
Envy, similar to greed and lust, is characterized by an insatiable desire. It is described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. While it is similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someone’s traits, status, abilities, or rewards, a difference is that the envious also desire the entity and covet it.
Right, instead of wrath I decided to put Doflamingo here.
The reason is simple, most of Doflamingo’s rage/wrath comes from the Celestial Dragon’s refusal of allowing him back into Mariejois. After his father decided to leave the Celestial Dragons, Doflamingo had a hard time adjusting to his new leave. People were no longer afraid or would obey his command and there were no more slaves. Even after Doflamingo killed his father and took the head back to Mariejois the Celestial Dragons refused him.
This refusal seems to be the driving force behind Doflamingo’s rage and the reason he wants to destroy anything connected to the Celestial Dragons, in this case the world. His envy of the Celestial Dragons, their power and wealth, makes Doflamingo fit this sin more than just simply wrath because he seems angry most of the time.
The last of the 7 deadly sins is Pride:
Pride is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins. It is identified as dangerously corrupt selfishness, the putting of one’s own desire, urges, wants, and whims before the welfare of other people.
In more destructive cases, it is irrationally believing that one is essentially and necessarily better, superior, or more important than others, failing to acknowledge the accomplishments of others, and excessive admiration of the personal image.
The last Warlord left that should fit this is Jimbei.
Jimbei doesn’t seem to fit this and that is simply because he doesn’t. There are aspects about his character and story however that can be linked to pride. The easiest answer is that Jimbei is a fishman.
The relationship between humans and fishman is complicated in One Piece. On one hand we have the humans that believe they are better and have discriminated against fishman for a long time.
The opposite also is true in some cases, best showcased by Arlong who Jimbei had allowed to run free in East Blue. One of Arlong defining traits was that he believed Fishman were better then humans. The only human he held in some regard was Nami for her map making skills. Arlong’s legacy continued on in Fishman Island by Hody Jones and his crew.
And while Jimbei himself doesn’t appear to see him better then others there are some cases where he shows pride, if one a more positive side. There was his pride as a Fishman when he decided to join Fisher Tiger to start the Sun Pirates. There was also his pride as a friend of Whitebeard, joining the Whitebeard pirates in defending their father’s back.
Finally we could say there is his pride in Luffy and the Strawhats, going as far as standing up to Big Mom when he decided to quit her crew to join Luffy.
It’s a bit weak overall but Jimbei seems to fit Pride more than any other sins.
Last but not least is Trafalgar Law who I believe to have been Jimbei replacement.
While Law could also fit wrath I had to put him here as Blackbeard/Buggy fit greed more and Weevil seems suited to sloth.
Law fits with pride because of his respect for Corazon and his pride in being one of the D. clan. The main reason Law was after Doflamingo was for vengeance for Corazon, the person he looked up to. Law didn’t mind dying on Dressrosa as he was certain that Luffy would take down Doflamingo in the end, being another of the D.
On a side-note I want to add that Law didn’t mind getting on Kaido’s bad side for disrupting the smile fruit factory. As long as he could take down Doflamingo he didn’t seem to have planned for the casualties that might have risen from either Doflamingo’s or Kaido vengeance.
With the 7 deadly sins and the Royal Warlords out of the way we can now focus on the 4 last things and the Yonkou.
A quick reminder, these were the 4 last things:
- Death
- Judgement
- Heaven
- Hell
The Yonkous are:
- Whitebeard (replaced by Blackbeard)
- Big Mom
- Kaido
- Shanks
As for the 4 last things they are the 4 last things that happen to a person/soul in Christianity.
1. First would be death, the person dies.
2. Next is Judgement, the soul is judged based on their life.
3. Then either the soul is sent to heaven, if they lived a good life.
4. Or they are send to Hell, if they have been naughty.
I’m not going to explain each one (as I did for the sins) since they should be straightforward but I might go into some details when it contains specific notions.
Let’s start with Death:
This should be either Whitebeard/Blackbeard or Shanks.
Whitebeard is the obvious one since he already died in One Piece and its likely Blackbeard will come to a similar fate. I’ve been considering putting Shanks here but I think he is better placed somewhere else.
Next is Judgement:
This is either Shanks or Big Mom. I’ve been thinking of putting Big Mom here since here Devil Fruit ability has some links to this but I think Shanks fits here better.
My reasoning for this is that I believe Shanks to be the final Yonkou either Luffy or Blackbeard has to face before they can reach the One Piece. Being able to defeat Shanks should serve as judgement whether they are qualified to inherit Gol D. Roger’s throne as Pirate King.
We continue with Heaven:
I originally had Whitebeard here, as his crew seemed to fit heaven the most in the way they all looked up to him (+ friendly atmosphere overall) but it doesn’t really fit Blackbeard (except for him telling Luffy that Sky Island exists).
Instead I went with Big Mom since her territory, Totland, seems to fit heaven.
While citizens have to pay a hefty price to live there, Totland is supposed to be a place where all races in One Piece can live in harmony, as long as they obey Big Mom and don’t mind paying a part of their lifespan.
Last would be Hell:
This seems best suited to Kaido.
Similar to Big Mom and Heaven, Kaido and his crew/territory seem to fit Hell. We have the terrible circumstances the people are living in in Wano, the horns on his crew mates that could resemble demons, his officers that are named after calamities etc.
And that's the theory. Let me know what you thought in the comments and whether you would have placed the Warlords/Yonkou somewhere else.
Franky Out!
