The Wano Fan Theory That Changes Everything On One Piece

Being a pirate often leads to a life of adventure, danger, and the likely entanglement in global affairs, at least if the popular anime saga known as "One Piece" is anything to go by. Based on the manga of the same name by Eiichiro Oda, "One Piece" centers around the exploits of Monkey D. Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka), a young pirate who yearns to make a name for himself and to explore the world, but what makes him different from other pirates is a chance exposure to Devil Fruit. This particular food grants Luffy a body with the properties of rubber, which acts as both a power and a source of comedy.

With over 800 episodes (via IMDb), "One Piece" has plenty of time to develop many interesting story arcs and introduce tons of new characters to either join or act as a foil for Luffy's group of pirates known as the "Straw Hats." The Straw Hats engage in several different adventures throughout the course of "One Piece," and the group deals with rebellions, floating sky islands, 400-year-old wars, and savage underworld warlords (via Otaquest). Wano Country, one key location in "One Piece," is an area known for its master blacksmiths and is the setting for one particularly robust story arc, but a recent fan theory proposes that the reclusive area will be featured much more in the future.

The Wano Country Arc of "One Piece" establishes that Wano Country originally has the moniker of "The Country of Gold," but its rightful rulers are overthrown in an act of treachery with the aid of several pirate lords. The pirates plan on turning Wano Country into a vast pirate outpost and enact a closed borders policy. However, this eventually causes a major war that sees a huge amount of villainous pirates allied against Luffy and his Straw Hats, many of whom come to the aid of the deposed samurai rulers known as the Kozuki Clan.

According to Comic Book Resources, a fan theory says that if the Straw Hats win the epic struggle against the combined forces arrayed against them, it will result in Luffy and his comrades gaining the whole support of the Kozuki Clan. In turn, the Straw Hats will end up as the stewards of Wano Country as the Kozuki Clan looks to rebuild and reestablish their rule. One fan on Reddit, u/-RedditCat-, argued that having control of Wano Country is really all Luffy needs to be "an emperor." Winning the conflict and the Kozuki Clan's support could mean that Luffy will earn his coveted title of "Emperor of the Sea," an honorary title that denotes a pirate as a paragon of the profession, while he and his crew will hopefully be rewarded with newly crafted Wano gear as a way of saying thanks. 

Either way, whatever occurs at the end of Wano Country Arc will chart the rest of the series and the future of everybody's favorite energetic and rubbery pirate.