Since the beginning, One Piece has been known for introducing several mysteries to its audience. From the ever-mysterious Shanks to what Blackbeard is, Eiichiro Oda continuously introduced new ways to make his audience question everything.
One Piece itself is based on a mystery, as fans have been wondering what the One Piece treasure really is from the very first chapter. Even more than 1000 chapters later, we still don’t know what the treasure is, but we are getting closer.
Another massive mystery in the series is, of course, “Joy Boy.” A name first mentioned back in the Fish-Man Island arc and a mystery that has plagued the fan base for over a decade. Since then, fans have been wondering just who he was, his significance to the story, and how his existence will impact the story in the future.
Now that the true powers and the actual nature of Luffy’s devil fruit have been explained, and since Kaido has spoken about Joy Boy, the hype and speculation around this character have increased dramatically. However, there are still so many mysteries surrounding this character, and they keep getting deeper and deeper as Oda goes further into the final saga.
Who is Joy Boy in One Piece?
Joy Boy was initially thought to be a single character in the series, most likely from the Void Century. If you don’t know already, the Void Century is a section of history in the One Piece world written out of the history books by the World Government.
The only people who had any knowledge of what happened during the missing century were the scholars of Ohara, where Nico Robin comes from. That is why the Five Elders and the World Government burned it down and killed all its residents.
Despite many years of the fan base assuming that Joy Boy was a single being, it might be more of a title than anything!
Gol D. Roger explained upon his visit to Laugh Tale that he wished to have existed in the same era as Joy Boy. However, Roger never said it was a past or a future era, so we have no real idea what he was talking about.
The name Joy Boy itself, though, isn’t just given to one person as Zunesha claims that Joy Boy has returned once Luffy awakens his devil fruit and turns into the Sun God Nika.
Joy Boy has been mentioned throughout the series ever since Fish-Man Island, as he seems to have significance to the Poneglyphs spread around the world. He was first mentioned in the series when Nico Robin deciphered the Poneglyph within Fish-Man Island.
Here she revealed it was a letter by Joy Boy, addressing his grief of not fulfilling a promise he made to the then Mermaid Princess. In the same letter, Joy Boy also spoke of his desire to carry on towards the future and fulfill that promise someday.
It seems like the future era he spoke of in the note referred to the current generation that Monkey D. Luffy resides in. For some other unknown reasons, people from the Void Century were aware of Joy Boy’s return over 800 years in the future. Everything surrounding Joy Boy seems to be dealing with time, eras, and the past. It’s a crazy thing, but one we hope to get more information on in the future.
Even after we got more information on him during Wano, we still know little to nothing about the character. However, fans do know that the One Piece treasure must be connected to Joy Boy in some shape or form!
During his life, Joy Boy ended up traveling to an island, later named “Laugh Tale” by Roger. Here, Joy Boy seemingly left behind some treasure that would come to be known as the “One Piece” in the modern day. What the One Piece is is, of course, still a massive mystery, but fans have recently speculated more on it.
In the Egghead Island arc, it was revealed that the Void Century was not prehistoric times or even like our real past; in fact, it was much more like the future with technology more advanced than in present times.
Vegapunk had a massive robot that he explained was from the Void Century. This immediately blew the doors open for fans as they realized that the modern-day One Piece world was actually behind in terms of technology compared to the Void Century.
This brought way more context to Gol D. Roger speaking about how he wished to be from the same era as Joy Boy, as maybe the One Piece treasure is something from the “future.”
Is Luffy Joy Boy?
The answer to that question would be a NO!
Luffy isn’t exactly Joy Boy, but the two are likely connected. It might be related to Luffy’s devil fruit, which was revealed to be a Mythical Zoan-type devil fruit called Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. The World Government has tried to acquire this devil fruit for 800 years, but they have never succeeded.
The Five Elders even mention that Zoan-type devil fruits have a will of their own, and since this particular devil fruit is named after a God, it might very well have a powerful will of its own.
Since the World Government has been after this powerful devil fruit for 800 years, the devil fruit existed during the Void Century, so it’s all but confirmed that it has something to do with Joy Boy. And now that Luffy is its current user, he is connected to Joy Boy too!
After Luffy awakens his devil fruit, Zunesha says, “Oh Joy Boy, it’s as though you are right there. My heart is dancing. I cannot help but feel fate is at work. I cannot help but put my hopes in him.”
This statement from Zunesha makes it clear that Luffy is not Joy Boy!
Even before the Wano Kingdom arc, fans had speculated about the connection between the two. This was mainly thanks to Imu, who was seen looking over a giant straw hat during the Reverie arc. Imu spoke about Joy Boy during this scene, so fans immediately made the connection to Luffy.
If this turned out to be accurate, the implications were enormous. Is Luffy a reincarnation of this Void Century figure? Or is he something else? Well, we finally got some answers during the Wano Kuni arc. During his fight against Kaido, it was slowly revealed that Luffy had a connection to Joy Boy, which was further corroborated by Zunesha’s statement.
Conclusion
That’s all we know about Joy Boy, but the One Piece series isn’t over yet. It’s not entirely confirmed that Luffy is indeed Joy Boy, and it’s not confirmed that he isn’t, but he is at least connected in some shape or form. We need more information to understand this situation completely, but Luffy is even more important than we imagined!
In conclusion, Joy Boy remains one of the biggest mysteries in the One Piece series. As the series progresses, fans eagerly await further information and revelations that will shed light on the character of Joy Boy, his significance to the overall story, and his connection to Luffy and the One Piece treasure.
Only time will tell what role Joy Boy plays in the grand narrative of One Piece anime! Till then, let’s just enjoy the masterpiece that Eiichiro Oda has created!
Also Read: Luffy’s Gear 5, Explained
