Against all expectations, One Piece‘s Elbaf Arc is seemingly shaping up to upstage the Egghead Arc in terms of exposition, delivering one of the most exciting chapters of the series in a while. At the center of these exciting revelations are the ancient Harley texts and a mural on Jewel Tree Adam, a part of which teases Joyboy may not entirely be the virtuous hero fans believe him to be.
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Chapter 1138 of One Piece finally reveals the mysterious Harley texts first mentioned by Jarul in Chapter 1136, with Robin finally given the chance to read the ancient texts. The Harley is revealed to be a poem detailing the history and future of the world of One Piece which it divides into three “worlds.” In the Harley, the second world appears to describe the Void Century, with Joyboy being referred to as “the sun” who “spread the fires of war,” implying that Joyboy may have been a warmonger who instigated the conflict that nearly destroyed the world during the Void Century.
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One Piece‘s Harley Texts Tease Joyboy’s Central Role in the Void Century War
As seen in Chapter 1136, opinions of Sun God Nika are quite varied on Elbaf, with some believing Nika to be a god of liberation, others believing him to be a god of laughter, and still more believing him to be a god of destruction. These contrasting opinions of Nika clearly stem from the Harley, where the sun god takes a different role in each of the three worlds. As revealed in Chapter 1138, the Harley texts imply that the sun god of the first world was a liberator who freed the enslaved, the sun god of the second world, aka Joyboy, was a destroyer who instigated war, and the sun god of the third world, i.e., Luffy will dance and laugh while leading the world to its end.
While there are multiple translations of the Harley texts floating around, in this case, the official translation by Viz seems to be right on the money. Some fan translations have interpreted the phrase in question as “the sun lit the embers of war” or “aggravated the fires of war” each of which has a slightly different connotation, with the latter implying that Joyboy may have metaphorically added fuel to an existing fire. The original Japanese phrase uses the words “hirogeru bakarida” which are closer to Viz’s translation, with “hirogeru” meaning “to spread” while “bakarida” means “to continue” and is usually used in a negative context to express a negative tendency.
So far, One Piece has led fans to believe that Joyboy and the Ancient Kingdom he belonged to were the so-called “good guys” who fought against the evil World Government, whose vile crimes range from genocide and slavery to human experimentation and mass murder. However, the Harley texts coupled with the information from Vegapunk’s broadcast imply things may not be as black and white as they seem. Vegapunk’s message in Chapter 1115 revealed that Joyboy and his faction fought against the World Government during the Void Century, with the latter being known as the Alliance at the time. It is implied that this provisional army was put together by the twenty kingdoms specifically to take down Joyboy and his “robust” faction.
That said, Vegapunk himself states that he does not know what sparked the war, choosing to define it as a clash of opposing ideologies instead of passing judgment on which side was right or wrong. The Harley texts, which Vegapunk no doubt had access to along with Ohara’s findings also support this idea that Joyboy and perhaps even the Ancient Kingdom may not have been completely innocent in the matter, especially if Joyboy was the one to instigate the catastrophic war that nearly destroyed the entire planet, thus explaining why some from Elbaf view Sun God Nika as a god of destruction.
Of course, the real reason or the difference in ideology that led Joyboy to declare war is yet to be determined, and perhaps that is part of the secret hidden at Laugh Tale, where fans and the Straw Hats alike will have to come to their own conclusions as Rayleigh claimed. Nonetheless, One Piece still has plenty more secrets to share and the Elbaf Arc is sure to be an absolute rollercoaster of revelations.
One Piece is available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.
