One Piece‘s Warlords of the Sea are a set of extraordinarily highly effective pirates that the Straw Hats encounter on the Grand Line, however a hidden clue hints at their true function. This isn’t the one time that mangaka Eiichiro Oda has hidden key components of a personality in a delicate clue. Nonetheless, hardly ever does he classify an entire group of characters with one small element, which is spectacular even for him.
Earlier than the time skip, the Warlords had been a few of One Piece‘s strongest villains. The truth is, Dracule Mihawk, probably the most harmful swordsman on this planet, was the Straw Hats’ first publicity to the facility stage they might encounter afterward their journey. One other warlord Crocodile would then turn out to be the Straw Hats’ first main antagonist after East Blue. One other of the Warlords Gecko Moria would serve an identical position within the Thriller Bark arc, even when he was much less spectacular than Crocodile, upstaged by one other Warlord Bartholomew Kuma in that very same arc. The opposite Warlords would first function main characters within the Marineford arc and its lead-up, with the Warlords Donquixote Doflamingo and Boa Hancock working for the marines within the Summit Battle and the Warlord Jinbe rebelling in opposition to the Authorities to assist Luffy. Whereas every of those characters served totally different roles within the story, all of them share one high quality that hints at a intelligent commonality.
All of the warlords besides Jinbe are named after an animal. These animals typically match up with their persona and skills, similar to Mihawk having hawklike eyes and Doflamingo being dressed like a flamingo, however they usually don’t correlate with something particular. That’s positive, as this naming scheme represents their standing as pawns of the World Authorities, being akin to mere animals in that group’s eyes. That is seemingly why Jinbe doesn’t observe this naming scheme, as he doesn’t observe the World Authorities’s orders. This additionally tracks with how lots of the Marine admirals are named, which reinforces their place as instruments of the Navy.
Apparently sufficient, whereas these animal names characterize the Warlords’ obedience to the World Authorities, it additionally hints that they aren’t excellent instruments. Not one of the animals that the Warlords are named after can really be domesticated, that means that the maintain of the World Authorities on the Warlords isn’t excellent. Certainly, lots of the Warlords find yourself appearing in defiance to the Authorities, most notably Crocodile and Doflamingo. However not like Jinbe, who flagrantly disregards the Authorities’s yoke, Crocodile and Doflamingo each insurgent in secret, inflicting them to maintain their animal monikers. And finally the opposite Warlords additionally activate the World Authorities after the Shichibukai are disbanded and changed with One Piece’s much more highly effective Seraphim.
With the Warlords now not a factor, solely their names serve to remind audiences that every one the unique Shichibukai was on the identical aspect ostensibly. However whereas the that means of their names is now much less vital, it nonetheless reveals how intentional a few of Oda’s names could be. This lesson can then be utilized to the names of a few of One Piece‘s more moderen characters to generate much more theories concerning the roles these figures will play within the manga’s last saga.