u/Stunning-Quality1995

By the time Elbaph ends, the Gods Knights could be down three members. Sommers and Killingham feel like they will die to weaken Imu. Brook will probably find a way to help Gunko break her covenant, but she’ll live. Killing her after being a brainwashed servant for over 60 years feels a little harsh for Oda. Regardless, the Gods Knights will have some openings.

In One Piece, any time an established elite group (Schichibukai, Yonko, Marine Officers) has a shakeup, it will mostly be filled with a character that was already established.

Schichibukai: Law, Buggy, Blackbeard

Yonko: Buggy, Blackbeard, Luffy

Marines: Smoker got promoted to Vice Admiral, Sakazuki got promoted to Fleet Admiral.

Even Garling was introduced as a God Knight before he got promoted to Gorosei.

I think the pattern will continue, and I have some names:

Doflamingo: Heavy favorite. CD bloodline, in WG custody, alludes to knowing some of the biggest secrets involving Imu. Strong enough where a covenant boost could put him on Zoro or Sanji’s level, even post Elbaph. Gorosei are probably aware he would try to betray them, but might be desperate enough to run that risk.

Mihawk: Dark horse. Mysterious character that has a lot of eerie visual similarities to Imu, which could be something. We know very little about his past, but maybe some of those early duels with Shanks took place in Mary Geoise when Shanks was a Devoted Blade? He is a loner (Cross Guild aside) who would probably view a covenant as cheating, but it would also put him in proximity to Zoro for their final showdown.

King: Outsider pick. Currently in WG custody and no captain. He‘s like Harald in that his rare bloodline might allow the GK to make an exception on letting someone from the outside become a GK. Depending on how Imu fares after Elbaph, he might want to keep a Lunarian body close as well. The WG do have the Seraphim, but King still has a lot of value, especially if he got a covenant boost.

When Loki killed Harald in the throne room, he killed his king, his father, and a God’s Knight all in one. Loki and Shuri/Gunko story’s have been shown to nearly identically, and we saw Shuri kill her king, Reuven, in a throne room already. To be a true mirror to Loki, Shuri would need to kill her father and a Gods Knight as well, and I think she did just that. After Gurou takes Princess Shuri to Mary Geoise, “Gunko” was born pretty much right away and Imu had her kill Gurou.

After Esperia falls, the next time Shuri is seen chronologically was when Xebec made it to the Flower Room six years later. She has not aged at all, so at this point has the same covenant as the Gorosei, most likely an Abyssal Covenants. We know that for Depths and Abyssal Covenants, Imu can bestow only 13 total between the Gods Knights and Gorosei. Shuri has taken a covenant slot that belonged to someone else.  

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The Gods Knights are seen at God Valley 18 years later. Gurou is not among them. Some speculate he is the yeti DF user, I disagree. They only share a nose, and even if the yeti has heterochromia, they are the opposite from Gurou and Gunko.

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At God Valley, we see seven Gods Knights, and there are five Gorosei, which makes 12 covenants, plus Shuri, who even though she is a Devoted Steel Blade on paper, we know has an Abyssal Covenant, which brings to total to 13. All covenants are accounted for with no Gurou in sight, so he is no longer a God’s Knight. 

Being a God’s Knight is a lifetime commitment as shown by Garling and Sommers, who are knights for decades. They could die of old age, but I suspect that if a God Knight were to get too old and feeble, Imu would revoke their covenant and give it to a younger, stronger Devoted Steel Blade. If losing the covenant did not automatically kill them, Imu would probably order the new God Knight to dispose of the old one, since they are now useless. They could alternatively be promoted to Gorosei, but Garling seems like the first person to do that in decades, if not centuries. Gurou was not a Gorosei, and he did not look that old in Esperia, so most likely would have been active in God Valley 24 years later if he was alive. 

When Gurou is in Esperia, we can tell he deeply dislikes Shuri. He calls her a whelp, and admits he is only there on Imu’s orders. He also discloses that his own special eyes never awakened, essentially confirming he is a failure in the eyes on Imu. He knows that if Shuri awakens her eyes, he is essentially helping secure his replacement. His spot could have gone to the other Manmayer in God Valley, but given the hat Gunko is wearing now is nearly identical to Gurou, Gunko is feels more likely as the one who had something to do with Gurou’s fate.

But even if he lost his covenant and status, why would he be killed? Wouldn’t Shuri’s existence prove he can sire children with special eyes? Why wouldn’t Imu just tell him to have as many children as possible? The simplest answer is Imu might only need one set of awakened eyes. Their power is clearly very rare and desirable, but it could be more of a luxury to Imu than a necessity. Given how few fighters there are capable of permanently killing a God Knight, being made one effectively makes you invincible. Once given an Abyssal Covenant, Gunko essentially became Imu’s unbreakable tool for all eternity. Other people with special eyes might be nice to have, but unnecessary given the limited covenants. 

There is also the slim possibility that Shuri’s existence proves Gurou’s potential bloodline is irrelevant. Let’s say that Candelle actually was an undercover Manmayer, and that Gurou was her brother, and something else entirely unrelated caused Candelle to be bedridden. If Shuri got her powerful eyes from her Manmayer mother, then the Manmayer Imu would want to have more children would be Candelle, who is dead, not Gurou. Gurou would then lose his God Knight status and be unable to prove he could sire useful children. Imu has zero reasons to keep him around. Now Shuri having a maternal uncle who hates her come and take her away after her mother died would be a big stretch…except that we see this exact scenario happen with Loki, exactly at the same time, 62 years ago, right after Elbaph also had an environmental disaster like Esperia. It is even implied that Loki was responsible for his uncle’s death as well.

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Either way, it is very likely that Imu forced Shuri/Gunko to kill Gurou. Shuri was probably taken to the Empty Throne, and Imu tested her eyes right away. Either the eyes awakened then and there, or it was confirmed that they would eventually. At this point, Imu took Gurou’s covenant and gave it to Shuri, and “Gunko” was born. If losing his covenant did not kill Gurou, then Imu ordered Gunko to finish him as he is no longer of any use to Imu. 

So Gunko is a cold-blooded beast who most likely killed both of her fathers (under Imu’s influence).

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The other Manmayer God Knight at the God Valley Incident will be revealed to be Gunko’s half-sister. Gunko already has a lot of parallels with Loki, and this girl will be another one. Loki has an older half-brother, Hajrudin, and this other Manmayer will be shown as Gunko’s half-sister. Can’t really tell if she is younger or older than Gunko though. She technically outranks Gunko at the time of God Valley (Gunko is technically a Devoted Steel Blade at this point), but Gunko got immortality early and it around 40 at this time, so who knows for sure.

While she probably has the same special eyes that Gunko has, she also has similar hair color, which is interesting. Both Gunko and this Manmayer have white hair in the manga (as does Gunko’s mother Candelle), which could be anything. But we know Gunko canonically has blue hair, and in the anime clip we see of the other Manmayer it is blue as well, though slightly different hue. It is definitely not black, which is Gurou’s hair color. This leads to three different conclusions:

1. Gurou proved he could sire children with special eyes, and this girls mother just also had blue hair. Most likely option.
2. Candelle was actually referring to Gurou when talking about the man she loved to Brook, and she faked her death to go to Mary Geoise. This girl is actually Gunko’s full sister, and would explain her hair color. The scenario is gross, hopefully not the case.
3. Gurou is a red herring (Gunko’s Uncle or Grandfather) and Candelle actually was a Manmayer God Knight and faked her death to leave Esperia. She proved she could sire children with special eyes, and this is her other daughter, which would explain the similar eyes and hair to Gunko. Very convoluted but also fun, so it is the least likely.

During the fight with Gaban, we see Imu has a Depths Covenant on the back of his cape. That seems kind of odd. That’s clearly a Depths Covenant symbol, so even if it is just his version of a Jolly Roger, why wouldn’t he use an Abyssal Covenant symbol, whatever it is, since it’s the higher covenant? Maybe they are the same, but for an Abyssal Covenant it gets placed it on your heart/soul? Future reveal with Gunko/Shuri?

Do you thinks it’s just a design choice, or actually story relevant? I’ll go with the former.

We know Zoan fruits have personalities of their own, and when the fruit is awakened the user can lose their personality to the fruit‘s own. Mythical Zoan fruits would be no different. Luffy was able to avoid this, I think because his own personality is already very similiar to Joy Boy’s.

I think Mythical Zoan fruits (and maybe all devil fruits) carry the souls of their originator, or first user. When the fruit is awakened, their soul literally wakes up, and can overwhelm the current user. You either need very strong willpower (haki) to resist, or your personality is so similar that it is not an issue.

While we don’t know much about Domi Reversi, we know from the giants that shadow demons merge with your body, give you a power boost, and change your personality. Imu describes corruption as “power so lusted after easily gained”, so we could call Domi Reversi Imu corrupting a person. Basically, it is like a pseudo zoan awakening.

I think since Luffy has awakened his DF, Joy Boy‘s soul has already “corrupted” Luffy, making him immune to Domi Reversi. Loki might be revealed to have already awakened his fruit by nature of being an ancient giant and being able to maximize its potential.

Popular theory when Reuven was introduced and I want to revist: Is Reuven is a descendant of the Davy clan?

There are a lot of design similarities between Reuven and Rocks/Blackbeard. ”Prime” Reuven looks more like Rocks, while “Sloppy” Reuven looks takes more after Blackbeard. The fact that Oda gave Reuven two designs rather than just one throughout the flashback tells us that he put a little more extra thought and effort into Reuven than he had too. While Oda will recycle some designs (child Brooks looks exactly like child Blackbeard and child Kuzan for example) there could be a couple other connections beyond the surface design.

Esperia: We know the largest gathering of Davy clansmen was in Gods Valley, a kingdom in West Blue. Rocks also tells us that the Davy’s have been mostly surviving in the criminal underworld. Esperia is a kingdom in the West Blue with an active criminal underworld (the Don boss that tries to kindap the queen, the curry/drug trade that child Brooks gets blamed for). While Reuven seems like a genuinely good guy, Brooks says Reuven’s dad was a bad king and blames him for his poverty, so maybe the king had underworld connections.

Rebel Personality: Despite being a prince, Reuven seems to find genuine happiness spending time with his bro Brooks, eschewing all of the fancy perks of royalty. We also see that despite Esperia being WG aligned, Reuven attacks Marines to save Brook, a kid he just met in a dump. Years later, he would declare war on the WG rather than hand over Shuri. Rocks essentially makes his pirate debut fighting a (informal) war against the WG, killing an admiral and making it to the Flower Room.

Imu’s Intervention: The fact that the King of the World present ”in person” (shadow form) in Esperia feels very important to me. We assume that he was there to help collect Shuri, but that feels like massive overkill. Using Domi Reversi to get Shuri to come would be helpful, but she was brainwashed probably right away, so they did not need her to come willingly. Shuri’s eyes are special and Imu wants them, but Imu also wants Vivi and so far he has never tried take her personally, even when she was in Mary Geoise with the Gorosei who he could have possessed to grab her there. The only other time we see Imu posses an Elder and DR someone was in God Valley, to personally ensure Rocks and the Davy clan die. Imu even DR Rocks and orders him to attack his child (and wife), which it looks like he did with Reuven.

I think Imu went to Esperia “himself” for two reasons, to collect Shuri and kill Reuven. I don’t think Reuven is Rock’s dad (we see him in God Valley), but maybe collecting Shuri was just one goal, and killing a Davy clansmen was another.

With how poorly the fight against Imu is going, it is feels like we are heading towards some heroic sacrifices taken to save Elbaph from Imu. The two most likely candidates are Gaban and Shuri/Gunko. While I don’t think they could die during the fight with Imu, by the time the Straw Hats set sail, I think one of them will have perished. The case for them would be:

Gaban:

Undoubtedly a very strong fighter, but not strong enough to seriously challenge Imu, especially since he’s already injured. It feels like he will sustain fatal injuries holding off Imu. He would probably be breathing at the end of their fight, and when Imu and the God’s Knights are banished and he knows Elbaph is safe, he would give the Straw Hats the message he hinted at earlier, then pass away. He tragically leaves behind a wife and son, while also passing the torch to the next generation.

Shuri/Gunko:

While the nature of her connection to Imu is still unknown, she is clearly someone he considers very valuable. God’s Knights deaths are an established weakness to Imu, and Gunko has a deeper connection to Imu than Harald did, so her death would have a huge impact on Imu, maybe enough to end the fight then and there. She could also just betray Imu and somehow banish him, at which point her covenant would be revoked and that might cost Shuri her life. This could be her atonement for all of her actions as Gunko under Imu’s influence.

I think it will be Gaban. His death would be tragic enough to have an emotional impact, while not impacting the story too much since his best days are behind him. Shuri dying would feel a little too cruel as she would be free for the first time in 60 years and then immediately die. Also, assuming it isn’t a situation where all of her memories as Gunko are foggy, she would be an absolute treasure trove of information on Mary Geoise, the Celestial Dragons, and Imu himself. She could also show up and be part of Brook’s epilogue with Laboon at the end of the manga.

I’m not counting Sommers and Killingham in this hypothetical because they feel too easy. They are irredeemable villains and also silly, so their deaths are essentially empty calories, which probably why they will be the only ones who will die this arc.

Brooks immediately asking Shuri about the past pretty much confirms we will get another flashback soon. I’m wondering if it will be on the shorter side (like Brooks’) or a longer lore reveal (like Loki‘s)?

She will most likely:

• Revist Esperia, at least the throne room showdown, to give some color on her heritage and how it was revealed to her.
• Reveal why Imu wanted her for her eyes and how her Gunko persona was born in Mary Geoise.
• A weakness Imu has the Straw Hats can exploit.

We are in the middle of a big fight with Imu but both Luffy and Loki are down, Gaban is probably more of a buying some time kind of fighter against Imu than someone Imu would consider a threat. Combined with Chopper about to talk to Biblo as well, I’m wondering if we get a longer reveal, like:

• Imu lore (origins, not necessarily Void Century)
• Origins of Mary Geoise/Celestial Dragons
• Breakdown of the mural (from Biblo, not Shuri)

I’m actually very curious about Shuri’s past, she feels very different from the other Holy Knight’s.

If Shammrock was not Shanks‘ twin, I would say Gunko/Shuri are easily the most important God’s Knight given her different connection to Imu. We will get a flashback of her past at some point, and it feels like her origins will be more unique than we are lead to believe right now.

Brook called Candelle one of Eaperia’s two stars (he was the other, so probably a little biased there). Not sure if she was a traitor, a God’s Knight, didn’t die when Brooks thought she did, but it like Candelle is could get a big reveal.

Edit: Candelle also never ages over the nearly 20 year period of Brook’s flashback, which could be a covenant, but it feels more like Oda not wanting to draw an older woman.

She could also be a Harald parallel, someone who made a naive choice to accept a covenant and it ended up costing her life.

Born with special eyes, cast/raised in the Underworld/Lower World, trapped in Elbaph at one point, committed regicide/patricide to a king under demonic influence. All too many similarities to be a coincidence, so what is the payoff. Loki and Shuri will be the heroes of Elbpah? They both sacrifice themselves to stop Imu?

Inspired by a post from the other day.

Based on what we saw from Brook’s flashback and reading between the lines, it appears Candelle is another tragic mother character. A woman who caught the eye of a CD, most likely made a sacrifice to keep him happy and protect the kingdom, and was left shattered and pregnant. Reuven married her to protect her and her child. She was able to recover married to the man she loved and raise her daughter is safety. Only then to have her home and family destroyed by the same people who traumatized her years ago. The simplest explanation, this reminds us that the CD’s are terrible monsters and doesn’t leave loose ends that slow down the story. 

However, there are some hints that might suggest Candelle was more than what she appears to be. Theory: Gurou was a red herring and Candelle was a Manmayer. Her being bedridden was caused by a covenant, and Shuri’s “father” is Imu due to Candelle’s covenant.

Background

Manmayer Family: Gurou reveals being born with heterochromia is very rare, and even rarer to “awaken” the eyes. This tells us even most Manmayer’s aren’t born with heterochromia, because otherwise Imu could just take his pick from the ones in Mary Geoise, and not specifically request Shuri be brought to Mary Geoise. Celestial Dragon are known to kick out wives and children on a whim (Ginny/Bonny), so it would be safe to say Manmayer children born with normal eyes would be the first to be expelled from Mary Geoise.

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Gurou: Shuri declares she is a Celestial Dragon and Reuven is not her “real” father, but she does not specifically say Gurou is either. Neither does Gurou call Shuri his daughter, even after his eye reveal. He is very disrespectful to Shuri in general, as he calls her a whelp and says he’s only there on Imu’s orders. Being a deadbeat dad to a common born bastard is easy to believe for a CD, but Garling, another God’s Knight, seems much more fond of his common born kids, even welcoming back Shanks as a teenager. Gurou was also more respectful to Candelle, as he remembers her after 15 years as well as her squire, who was purposefully kept away. Being kinder towards Candelle, while disrespecting their daughter seems at odds with one another.

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Vague Allusions: A lot of people picked up on these when Candelle was introduced. She describes herself as a Trusted Blade, which sounds very similar to a Devoted Blade, a lower rank of the God’s Knight. Candelle confesses she is in love with “a man far out of my league” and she honed her combat skills to get as close to him possible. She was introduced as Reuven’s wife in the chapter before this, and while she has enough manners to not say the name of the man she loves to a Brook as a child, it feels deliberate that her answer was this vague. Finally, in one of her earlier panels she gets the same SFX only used for Mihawk (credit u/Ugottabekiddingme2) a mysterious character who shares a lot of visual similarities to Imu.

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Covenants: The Gorosei describe covenants, even the Shallow Covenant, as a bond to Imu, whom they consider the true God. Harald shows that receiving a covenant, even as a very powerful ancient giant, can be painful (granted it was a Depths Covenant), so it would likely be very unpleasant for a normal human to take.

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Shanks discloses that even those with a Shallow Covenants cannot resist Imu if he is close enough.

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Imu tells us that the basis of covenants is choosing servitude out of self interest.

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Candelle literally tells us she considers skills with the sword and leader of the Battle Convoy as a means to get close to someone she loves.

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Reuven: As Esperia is already WG affiliated and Gurou describes it a a backwater, Reuven feels more likely to be on a God’s Knights radar as a potential descendant of the Davy clan. He shares a lot of design similarities with Rocks and Blackbeard (credit u/iamusoppp).

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Rocks mentions the Davy’s had to go into hiding and make a living in the criminal underworld.

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There is a criminal presence in Esperia (there are criminal Dons on the island, there was some kind drug trade with Marines that child Brook got blamed for), and even though Rueven is a good guy, Brook’s said Reuven’s dad was a bad king.

The Full Theory

Candelle is a non heterochromia Manmayer who landed on Esperia and Reuven is a descendant of the Davy clan. Candelle makes contact with Gurou and agrees to spy on and potentially kill Reuven in exchange to be a God’s Knights and get back to Mary Geoise, maybe she was raised to love Imu as the true God before she left/was expelled, and seals it with a covenant, which causes her to be bedridden. Brook’s is kept away because he is 100% loyal to Reuven, and if he caught a whiff of this plan he would tell the prince. Reuven is Shuri’s biological father, but Candelle’s covenant while pregnant makes Shuri inherently bonded to Imu, so she essentially inherits a covenant, which allows Imu to claim parentage. Candelle seems to enjoy living in Esperia/being married to Reuven while raising Shuri in some panels of the flashback. When the WG tells her to bring in Shuri, maybe she realizes Imu’s plan for her, or just has a change of heart like Mjosgard and refuses, so they kill her, since she served her purpose and Shuri is all that matters at this point. Imu is in the throne room to influence Shuri to leaving Esperia, not just to use Domi Reversi on her and Reuven.

Shuri is clearly very important to Imu at least as a tool, and it could just be her eyes, but it feels like there will be a bigger reveal when we see Shuri’s recounting of events.

In Brooks flashback, Gurou mentioned being born with the “Bipolar Irises” are extremely rare, and the WG moved heaven and earth to capture her, because even the chance she could awaken them means she was of interest of Imu.

The fact that Gurou said it is extremely rare tells me that even most Manmayer‘s probably don’t have the eyes, because if it was common in the Manmayer’s Imu would probably just keep picking ones in Mary Geoise until one awakened. But the fact that Imu oversaw Shuri’s capture personally tells us it might have even been generations without those eyes outside of Gurou, who admitted his were a failure.

From the Rock’s flashback, we see Shuri/Gunko was an attendant of Imu for a long time, so she was probably gifted immortality ASAP, which would lead us to think her eyes met the conditions and Imu wanted to make her position permanent. However, later see her as a Devoted Blade at God’s Valley (the lower rank of the God’s Knight), and a God’s Knight on Elbaph. Both islands have people who either could or did kill God’s Knight‘s (Rocks and Loki respectfully), so it seems very risky on Imu’s part to put his servant with valuable eyes in danger.

I was leaning towards she did awaken them because her possession seems different than the Gorosei in that she could use Omens while possessed. Now I am wondering if she did not and her eyes need to be awakened like a Haki Bloom or awakening a devil fruit, which comes in tough battles.