About two years ago theories arose about Wano being the Ancient Kingdom. In this post I’m going to expand on that with new info from Egghead and show you how elegantly Oda gave us the main clue.
In chapter 1065 we finally got a piece of lore from before the void century – the Iron Giant, giant robot powered by unknown source of energy.
Look at a size of a sword compared to Luffy. And we just recently seen the sword of a similar size on Onigashima. Katanas in OP are closely connected to Wano. One can argue it is a weird weapon for a highly advanced robot (Vegapunk uses laser beams in his) but ok.
Truth is that is not the first robot with a sword. Remember General Franky introduced in chapter 636? Small detail: direct translation from Japanese is “Furanki Shogun” – direct Wano reference. In chapter 636 Franky states that he incorporated wapometal in Vegapunk’s original design. As you should remember Franky spent two years in a former Vegapunk’s lab on Karakuri island.
Why do you need these katanas on a giant metal robot? Vegapunk’s Pacifistas don’t use them. How did the katana got into the original design? I will show that they are important for establishing Wano connection.
You might be thinking how irrelevant all of this is. And in response, I hit you with chapter 448.
Chapter 448 plotwise is the beginning of Thriller Bark (we meet Ryuma the first time here btw) with Enel’s trip to the moon as a cover story. Won’t go into the cover story details here so on the moon Enel met these small robots and one of them is reminiscing about his life.
We learn that it was built on Karakuri island. Only 100+ chapters later we will learn that Karakuri island is a winter island in Paradise, homeland of Vegapunk known as Future Land Baldimore (pics below). Well, Franky actually meets different robotic creatures on the island during timeskip, right? Actually, with this order in storytelling Oda makes you miss this juicy part.
Let’s get back to the Enel’s cover story. I will give you the next two panels from chapter 450 and chapter 451. Remember that the reader knows nothing about the island and the main story is in Thriller Bark.
That was unexpected. It is clearly stated in chapter 448 that the scene takes place on Karakuri island. The next two panels are clearly in Wano. Well, we’ve now been to Wano and there was no advanced robotics like this. And we’ve been to modern day Karakuri it is simply cannot be the same place. So what is all this?
You can draw conclusions for yourself since I don’t really have a compelling answer. I believe all three panels are Karakuri island 800+ years ago when it was part of the Ancient Kingdom a.k.a Wano country. Because this little story connects advanced technology of the past with Wano. You can also mention the Moon connection between the two.
I want also mention Toki’s case here. Her parents were from Wano but she was not. However when we meet her she appears in traditional Japanese clothes while holding a katana.
Theory by nakurikata (https://www.reddit.com/user/nakurikata)
