The 1122nd chapter of the manga about One Piece will be released in just a few days. Thanks to leaks from Japan, we already know what will happen in the next section of the story. Accordingly, we will see Joy Boy for the first time, albeit with a small limitation.
Warning, here follows a spoiler minefield. Avoid it if you want to read chapter 1122 yourself without knowing how Joy Boy is depicted.
Who is Joy Boy? The name Joy Boy is repeatedly mentioned in the One Piece manga. However, the person behind the pseudonym has been dead for a long time.
- Joy Boy lived about 900 years ago in a “technologically advanced” kingdom.
- He was the very first pirate to sail the world’s oceans.
- His body could stretch like rubber. His fighting style resembled that of the sun god Nika.
- Luffy is the incarnation of Joy Boy. After he awakened his Gear-5 powers, the giant elephant Zunesha called him by this name.
Furthermore, Joy Boy contributed at least a part of the One Piece. When Pirate King Gol D. Roger found the legendary treasure, he wished that he had lived at the same time as Joy Boy.
Unfortunately, we do not know if Joy Boy sailed the seas with a cool ship:
Conclusions about Joy Boy’s appearance refute fan theory
What does Joy Boy look like? In the upcoming chapter, a flashback will be shown between the giant robot Emet and Joy Boy. While the metal creature is fully visible, Joy Boy is only represented vaguely.
It can be seen that he wears a hat and a coat. The hat has a slightly wider brim than Luffy’s straw hat. The coat also seems to have seen better days, as it is worn out at the bottom.
X-user Perera44 shows us what Joy Boy looks like:
Which fan theory is being refuted? When Imu first showed a gigantic straw hat, many fans were convinced that Joy Boy must be a giant (via Reddit). Among giants, the sun god Nika is considered a folk hero.
That’s why many fans thought that the gigantic straw hat must have belonged to a large person who possessed similar powers to Nika and Joy Boy.
But: Compared to the robot, it can be seen that Joy Boy is not a giant. He is roughly the size of Luffy and his friends. This suggests that Joy Boy could have been a human.
Alternatively, it is possible that another fan theory is correct and Joy Boy was a Buccaneer. Oda may have left some leeway in the size comparison because Buccaneers are only slightly larger than humans.
The theory of the Buccaneers is reinforced by the fact that Jewelry Bonney was able to transform into Nika. Bonney is partly a Buccaneer due to her father’s genes, and she has listened to stories about the sun god Nika since she was a child.
The Five Elders have also repeatedly expressed disdain for the Buccaneers, which many attributed to the fact that a “Nika” must always be born among them.
Whether Joy Boy was ultimately a Buccaneer or a human remains to be seen. If Oda adheres to the current size comparison with Emet, it does not seem that the gigantic straw hat that Imu keeps belongs to him.
Imu has quite a bit in his treasure chamber. He not only keeps the gigantic straw hat but also one of the Ancient Weapons. With that, we know all three Ancient Weapons from One Piece: One Piece finally reveals what the last Ancient Weapon is and who possesses it
