One Piece has had its fair share of Easter Eggs thanks to creator Eiichiro Oda, with the mangaka spending decades telling the tale following Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirates, along with the numerous swashbucklers that populate the Grand Line. Shockingly, Oda seemed to have performed some time traveling magic in the manga’s latest chapter as a very different Luffy makes a surprise appearance as the mystery surrounding Dr. Vegapunk begins to take hold in the Final Arc.
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With One Piece currently in the throes of its Final Arc, Shonen readers are preparing themselves for anything as all the players are assembling and the Straw Hat Pirates recently came across Dr. Vegapunk, the scientist that has played a major role both within the military as well as in the lives of Grand Line inhabitants. Introducing a time traveling, old man Monkey might be a wild curveball even for One Piece, and while this cameo might only be a witty Easter Egg for fans, we are in unexplored territory for the Shonen franchise so who is to say that this might not factor into the last chapters?
Old Man Luffy
Twitter User Fire Fist Janni shared the panel in question that sees a Luffy from an alternate future, potentially, appearing in One Piece for the first time as Dr. Vegapunk, and the mysteries surrounding the world-renown scientist, makes an appearance for the manga’s Final Arc:
While time-traveling versions of the Straw Hats might not have a role to play in the franchise’s Final Arc, time travel had a role to play during the Wano Arc, in which Kozuki Oden’s partner, Toki, had the ability to transport people and objects through the timeline. Using her Devil Fruit power to save her children, the War For Wano Arc would have gone quite differently had Toki not decided to use her abilities in such a way. With so many characters and storylines taking place in One Piece’s manga at any given time, it shows Eiichiro Oda’s level of detail in that he still includes fun Easter Eggs for readers to find.
What do you think of Old Man Luffy? Do you think we’ll see this iteration of the character play a significant role in the manga’s Final Arc? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Grand Line.
