Cover Story Theories and Discussion

Tangaroa

It is interesting to see where this will go. He is the reason the offerings vanished but surely not why the ruins are going flying. Maybe the offerings are there to prevent the destruction of the town and by taking the offerings for himself wadatsumi as indirectly caused all of this. But who are the offerings for?

Would that explain the rampaging sea creatures from the newspaper? The sinking ship certainly looked attacked by one of them rather than the noticibly 5 fingered Wadatsumi.

Definitely seems like the energy-drug didn't affect him like the New Fishman Pirates. Foes he not remember that Jinbe beat him?

DynamiteShikoku

@Clessenur:

Jinbe is based from the character from Romancing Saga 2 and this what the wiki said about that char: Subier (スービエ Sūbie?): A male octopus-human hybrid that controls various minions such as sea creatures and pirates and rules over the ocean. Defeating the narwhal known as Master of Ocean will unleash Subier's more powerful form. His preferred move is "Maelstrom."

i wouldnt mind that. a fishman narwhal would look badass. they're basically the ocean's unicorn for god's sake. if jinbe can also get a new skill to fight big mom later, that would be great as well.

@Tangaroa:

Would that explain the rampaging sea creatures from the newspaper? The sinking ship certainly looked attacked by one of them rather than the noticibly 5 fingered Wadatsumi.

Definitely seems like the energy-drug didn't affect him like the New Fishman Pirates. Foes he not remember that Jinbe beat him?

maybe the creature/person that wadatsumi accidentally angered did that. the same person can also control the now masterless sea monsters.

gangonga

a fishman narwhal would look badass

Α narwhal is a species of whale though sο basically it is a mammal,no fish.

DynamiteShikoku

@gangonga:

Α narwhal is a species of whale though sο basically it is a mammal,no fish.

…..but but narwhal fishman would be badass :sad:

gangonga

…..but but narwhal fishman would be badass :sad:

Oh,i totally agree with you.Yet Oda didn't want any sea mammals like whales,dolphins,orcas and narwhals to be included in the fishman family.Maybe he can include them in a different way in the future because the idea is totally awesome!

O baba

@DynamiteShikoku:

…..but but narwhal fishman would be badass :sad:

well swordfish-man would be about the same and like that no problem with the mamal thing

RamistaR

See the last page of Jinbe's cover story.

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I think Oda was inspired by these kind of toy for pets.

!
I wonder if it just looks like one, or if it really is a pet house built for this purpose.
Eitherway it's pretty old since there was a poneglyphe inside.
So I had this theory:

Maybe the giant mermaid princess of the void century (poseidon) used her power only to tame kawaii fishpets. She had this house built for the ancestors of the guys currently living here. After all those years they are still waiting for their master…ha...ha....Hatchi! Sorry.
Anyway, I think they might play a role in the future as a part of Fishman Island's army. Ruled with Shirahoshi's iron fist

maxterdexter

These are sea monsters, not seakings, seakings are the ones capable of eating islands.

Lana_Patrick

Aren't those cats the ones from Alabasta's coast?

RamistaR

@maxterdexter:

These are sea monsters, not seakings, seakings are the ones capable of eating islands.

I know the mermaid princess can talk to see kings. It doesn't mean she can't talk to regular fishes like any other mermaid.
@Lana_Patrick:

Aren't those cats the ones from Alabasta's coast?

Maybe she gathered kawaii fishes from all over the world.

Tyrano

Jinbe story felt relatively short after coming from Caribou story which went on for million years.

So what's next guys? I hope for Vergo and Monet or Tashigi and Smokey but deep inside I think it will end up Yeti Cool Bros.

Yobiyopi

@Tyrano:

Jinbe story felt relatively short after coming from Caribou story which went on for million years.

So what's next guys? I hope for Vergo and Monet or Tashigi and Smokey but deep inside I think it will end up Yeti Cool Bros.

Kuzan and Camel are also good candidates

Tyrano

@Yobiyopi:

Kuzan and Camel are also good candidates

Feels like they are too big and too important for the future surprises.

But then again we had Ace Enel Jinbe so here's hoping.

Lana_Patrick

Sanji's group :v

GreatLiver

By the time we get through the next round of SHs & animals Dressrosa should be pretty much finished up, meaning we'll probably get some post-arc chapters where the focus of the actual chapters covers a lot of characters briefly. First and foremost among them I should think would be the twirlybrows. And generally, I just can't see half the crew being relegated to cover stories.

It's definitely going to be someone we left on Punk Hazard. I'm hoping for Monet/Vergo, but knowing Oda I feel like it'll be the Yeti Cool Brothers. He'll probably give hints to the fact that Monet and Vergo escaped and are alive, without outright showing it sorta like the 3 cups thing for Sabo. Be it a glimpse of the places where their bodies would be or some weird snow weather indoors or something. It's just that based on the fact in the past we've gotten cover stories about lesser characters like Gedatsu & Caribou before important ones like Enel and Jinbe, I feel we're gonna see a story about characters we don't particularly care much about next.

RomanceDawn

The Swirly Hat situation was too big and too much into the forefront of the story to be turned into a cover story. I mean just imagine, there will be at least 11 random animal covers(assuming the crew doesn't double up again) and then the story itself would probably last at least 20 chapters. That would be over 2 full years without half the crew. That would be the separation all over again and waaaaaaaaaay too soon for anything like that again.

My guess is that Monet and Vergo are next and they make contact with the Yeti Cool Bros. They'll probably start a snow cone cart that ends up making them millions.

Game And Guy

A bump.

Anyways, I feel like we're nearing the next cover story soon. Judging by it, it should be stuff from Punk Hazard now. I doubt we can get any more from Fishman Island. Monet and Vergo are definitely going to be the characters of focus, considering from Punk Hazard. The only closest thing I could imagine is maybe following what Smoker is doing, though I doubt that (and I really don't want any more Smoker for a while).

Monet and Vergo are alive, no matter what the wiki endless argues over. By that, they either go through two routes: go on their own, meet some other characters along the way, and do some weird thing that may or may not affect the story (see Hachi's story and Gedatsu's story respectively); OR they regroup, see what happened to Dressrosa, and essentially go the Baroque Works route, with some differences here and there.

If you ask me, the latter is more possible, considering how dedicated Monet and Vergo are to Doflamingo. That being said, I don't know exactly how'd they reunite with the others. Maybe hijack the ship? Maybe there's another undercover deux ex marine? IDK. But they'd regroup somehow. Now what they would do afterwards is the question. I can see the non-elite officers separating and doing their own thing, like Miss Goldenweek and the others, while the remaining ones try to restart. With that, Doflamingo and his remaining men would probably serve the same purpose as the Thriller Bark crew is doing right now. They'd surely come back, but not for a while, probably causing some ruckus here and there (like Absalom).

Or maybe it'd be something entirely different, idk. But I doubt that Doflamingo is out of the picture. So far, most of the major villains of major arcs have a cover story, even if it's just a subordinate appearing somewhere (like Perona). Someway or another one of the Donquixote Pirates is gonna appear on a Cover Page.

This is actually getting me excited. The last cover story was kinda filler-ish, so hopefully this next one is gonna be cool. And not another Where Are They Now because we just had one.

Edit

It could also be Marijois and the Reverie. I very much doubt that though, but it's a possibility.

Game And Guy

This post is deleted!

Game And Guy

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I've said this in the past, but it still bothers me that Gedatsu's cover story doesn't seem like it's going to be relevant to the current story line at all. Gedatsu's Accidental Blue Sea Life, Enel's Great Space Operations, and CP9's Independent Report at the one cover stories that hasn't appeared or affected the current story line at all, though it's not hard to see how the latter two can appear in the current story line. We could have easily seen Uranus in Enel's cover story, and the whole theory that Urouge and Enel have some things to settle. CP9 could easily appear in the New World. So it's really weird that we'd have a cover story like Gedatsu's that seemingly has no impact to the story. Maybe by some ungodly reason he appears at the Reverie? Maybe the Hot Springs becomes a big booming business and Gedatsu opens up other hot springs in other places? I don't know. It seems really dumb that it'd be the case that it has no purpose to the story at all though. We neither learn anything new from it nor affect the story later on.

kouch_lee

Not absolutely everything needs to be brought back into the main narrative; this was a wacky adventure of a wacky side villain that, actually, got tied with many important characters during its run. We just go on and assume he's living the (wacky) life as a resort tycoon of sorts, and that's it. He could come back as some sort of glorified cameo, like Wapol is supposed to when the Reverie happens, but not much else. And considering he has 0 political ambitions or anything of the like and he just seems to move and act on pure impulse, what would he bring to the table, aside from more antics?

In the same vein, how or, more importantly, why would someone want the Baroque Works guys (minus the top 4 officers, of course) back into the main storyline? They got out of jail and got Spiders Cafe back to business, each character having fulfilled their true dreams. End of their story. Bringing them back would be totally unnecessary.

Clessenur

@Game:

! http://img4.bato.to/comics/2014/12/26/o/read549dad95f276c/img000002.png

I've said this in the past, but it still bothers me that Gedatsu's cover story doesn't seem like it's going to be relevant to the current story line at all. Gedatsu's Accidental Blue Sea Life, Enel's Great Space Operations, and CP9's Independent Report at the one cover stories that hasn't appeared or affected the current story line at all, though it's not hard to see how the latter two can appear in the current story line. We could have easily seen Uranus in Enel's cover story, and the whole theory that Urouge and Enel have some things to settle. CP9 could easily appear in the New World. So it's really weird that we'd have a cover story like Gedatsu's that seemingly has no impact to the story. Maybe by some ungodly reason he appears at the Reverie? Maybe the Hot Springs becomes a big booming business and Gedatsu opens up other hot springs in other places? I don't know. It seems really dumb that it'd be the case that it has no purpose to the story at all though. We neither learn anything new from it nor affect the story later on.

It is. He is going to accidentally find Pluton.

Game And Guy

@kouch_lee:

End of their story. Bringing them back would be totally unnecessary.

The characters themselves don't need to appear. Miss Goldenweek's Operation: Meet Baroque Works served its purpose. It's actually one of the cover stories that had a big impact on the story line. What I'm referring to is any sort of relevance to the main plot. Wapol's Omnivorous Hurrah was one thing that seemingly had no point of happening, but then Franky got his hands on Wapometal and managed to create his current body with Vegapunk's designs and inventions. That kind of relevance. Enel's story, whether or not he appears again, at least gave us history and bits about world, and may or may not contained hints about Poseidon, Pluton, and Uranus as well as the Void Century. CP9's story could really only be relevant if they themselves appear, which I don't doubt will happen sooner or later. Gedatsu just stands out as having no point, which is odd since all the other ones have some sort of relevance to the story or seemingly will have relevance to the story.

Katzztar

@kouch_lee:

Not absolutely everything needs to be brought back into the main narrative; this was a wacky adventure of a wacky side villain that, actually, got tied with many important characters during its run. We just go on and assume he's living the (wacky) life as a resort tycoon of sorts, and that's it. He could come back as some sort of glorified cameo, like Wapol is supposed to when the Reverie happens, but not much else. And considering he has 0 political ambitions or anything of the like and he just seems to move and act on pure impulse, what would he bring to the table, aside from more antics?

In the same vein, how or, more importantly, why would someone want the Baroque Works guys (minus the top 4 officers, of course) back into the main storyline? They got out of jail and got Spiders Cafe back to business, each character having fulfilled their true dreams. End of their story. Bringing them back would be totally unnecessary.

The Baroque Works cover arc has already affected the main story =
It showed how Messers 0, 1, 2, & 3 got arrested (2&3) and/or how they went from some no name prision (where rest of BW were) to be in Impel Down, and thus in a place to team up with Luffy.
After that, The ones at Spiders Café at the end were not the important ones, they were shown to wrap up that arc.
Since the arc already affected the main story, I agree its unnecessary.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Game:

The characters themselves don't need to appear. Miss Goldenweek's Operation: Meet Baroque Works served its purpose. It's actually one of the cover stories that had a big impact on the story line. What I'm referring to is any sort of relevance to the main plot. Wapol's Omnivorous Hurrah was one thing that seemingly had no point of happening, but then Franky got his hands on Wapometal and managed to create his current body with Vegapunk's designs and inventions. That kind of relevance. Enel's story, whether or not he appears again, at least gave us history and bits about world, and may or may not contained hints about Poseidon, Pluton, and Uranus as well as the Void Century. CP9's story could really only be relevant if they themselves appear, which I don't doubt will happen sooner or later. Gedatsu just stands out as having no point, which is odd since all the other ones have some sort of relevance to the story or seemingly will have relevance to the story.

Actaully there is still more to come with Wapol. His cover arc was necessary to show how he got a new kingdom, the New Black Drum Kingdom. With the Reverie coming up, I bet Wapol will be there, considering its the first one since he's once again a king.

I agree on seemingly everyones view on Gedatsu … its hard to see how he can affect the story

RomanceDawn

@Clessenur:

It is. He is going to accidentally find Pluton.

This is so silly it's absolutely going to happen. With that big mole of all things? How didn't I put this together sooner?!

You might be joking but I am all in on this theory.

Clessenur

@RomanceDawn:

This is so silly it's absolutely going to happen. With that big mole of all things? How didn't I put this together sooner?!

You might be joking but I am all in on this theory.

The ancient weapons are definedly going to be relevant in the finale so there is no reason not to assume he won't be the one to find it.

Strawhat Chan

@RomanceDawn:

This is so silly it's absolutely going to happen. With that big mole of all things? How didn't I put this together sooner?!

You might be joking but I am all in on this theory.

There really is a theory like that. Unless Clessenur is the one who came up with it originally.

Gizmo

Second chance. Fingers crossed to see Ippon-Matsu with a successful business shop with Smoker gone and potential new pirates coming from all over East Blue due to the new status quo shaking up after Whitebeard's death, AND because he could advertise Zoro got swords from his shop.

That's all I care to see honestly, though I guess the other thing we'll find out is the status of the Reverie date given we'll likely see Drum, Alabasta, Fishman Island, maybe Dressrosa? If they're prepping to head out to the event then we'll know it's soon.

Otherwise, this seems like fluff, but given the last few cover stories, maybe another round of seeing everyone around the world react to the crew's bounty is the better option. Who knows? Maybe we'll see the Big players like Shanks or Big Mom, or Jinbe so we know where he's at (and maybe see if he's in trouble from trying to talk to Big Mom about leaving).

Extra points if we see Monet/Vergo react to the new bounties.

hashwilliams

I am waiting for the Jhonny story, it will be soon release.!

Katzztar

I hope to see Syrup village = Kaya & the boys read the papers while in the background villagers are shocked to find out Usopp really is a big time pirates.
Remember when Sogeking's bounty poster came out, Kaya & the boys knew it was Usopp but the villagers didn't. Also when Usopp left, only Kaya & the boys knew he joined Luffy's crew. So rest of the village didn't know Usopp became a pirate.

rayleigh92

I hope we have not to see the whole cast again… I really appreciated the first time to see all those people plot forgot about, but now it would redundant. I hope we'll just see the mains and move on.

Strawhat Chan

@rayleigh92:

I hope we have not to see the whole cast again… I really appreciated the first time to see all those people plot forgot about, but now it would redundant. I hope we'll just see the mains and move on.

We won't see the same cast of characters again. Well, some of them. Showing Gaimon, Tonjit and the like would be redundant. They could be replaced by Sentoumaru, Smoker and Tashigi arriving with the children and former villains like Kuro, Krieg and Gin, Arlong, Moria…

Maju

why are there people on the internet saying that that is shank's son?does with the title of yonkou come the power to impregnate a woman from miles away?

Helter Skelter

@Maju:

why are there people on the internet saying that that is shank's son?does with the title of yonkou come the power to impregnate a woman from miles away?

Oda said somewhere that Makino's kid is probably "that man's son". People assumed it was Shanks'. But I agree with you. It's weird. I really don't see Shanks returning to East Blue. He probably got territory in the New World to guard. Plenty of stuff to do.

Maju

@Helter:

Oda said somewhere that Makino's kid is probably "that man's son". People assumed it was Shanks'. But I agree with you. It's weird. I really don't see Shanks returning to East Blue. He probably got territory in the New World to guard. Plenty of stuff to do.

also,an emperor ship on the move is enough to get the WG in alert..so it's not like he has freedom of movement.

Katzztar

@rayleigh92:

I hope we have not to see the whole cast again… I really appreciated the first time to see all those people plot forgot about, but now it would redundant. I hope we'll just see the mains and move on.

Yeah, I'd prefer to see the ones that strong connections to the SHs, like people in their home villages, instead of random characters like the sword selling guy in Lougetown or Gaimon.

Strawhat Chan

@Katzztar:

Yeah, I'd prefer to see the ones that strong connections to the SHs, like people in their home villages, instead of random characters like the sword selling guy in Lougetown or Gaimon.

I don't think we'll see them again this time. He showed them because it's been two years, that's all.

Skadi

idk guys unlike the other yonkos Shanks is super small. He could cross the calm belt in a row boat at night and no one would ever know.

I wanna see Gin so badly. But I have this hunch that he´ll return to the main story whenever sanji gets an arc for himself, which seems to be about to happen soon.

Jazzy Jinx

The reactions to Luffy's bounty I'm most looking forward to are Vivi, Hancock, Crocodile and Jinbe's.

I wonder if we might get the KHA alliance too?

kdchronos

@Jazzy:

I wonder if we might get the KHA alliance too?

I think they are pretty bussy with Kaido.. but well a week had already passed. But I don't think we are going to see more about the Worst Generation for a while

The 3rd one is going to be probably Shells or Shimotsuki, but maybe we are going to see Garp, Coby and Helmepo since they are now in Fucsia if a remember well… but i think we are going a lot but together, like the 2nd one that we see the Villagers and the Bandits together, different with the last one that they were separated

Bugs

@Jazzy:

The reactions to Luffy's bounty I'm most looking forward to are Vivi, Hancock, Crocodile and Jinbe's.

I wonder if we might get the KHA alliance too?

I hate to disappoint you, but we aren't going to see Croc in the cover story. Oda hasn't showed him in full since the time skip, and because Strawhats also are bound to run into him again in the New World, we'll have wait until he's worked back into the plot. The same is true for the Kidd-Apoo-Hawkins alliance. And even more than Croc, they're main movers of the plot and thus too important to have their actions shown in cover stories. Plus, Oda already showed their (and the rest of the worst generation's) response to Luffy defeating Doflamingo, so it would be redundant.

I have my doubts on Jinbe's, given that I think this cover story is going to be more like the post-timeskip one, but I can see it happening, simply because we didn't get his reaction from Doflamingo's downfall.

The other two, definitely. I'm most curious for Vivi's because I'm half expecting her to be on or about to get on a boat for the Reveire, given what King Riku said about it.

RamistaR

Surely you already noticed, I want to point that the two young swordmen with Koshiro were created all the way back in chapter 5. During Zoro's flashback. They appeared again when Dragon saved Sabo near the dojo.
But it's our first time seeing them as adults. I wonder if one of them will inherit the dojo.

Katzztar

@RamistaR:

Surely you already noticed, I want to point that the two young swordmen with Koshiro were created all the way back in chapter 5. During Zoro's flashback. They appeared again when Dragon saved Sabo near the dojo.
But it's our first time seeing them as adults. I wonder if one of them will inherit the dojo.

That's what I was thinking, seeing as Koshiro has no heir (well no child of his own) and it was odd that one guy (nameless?) was given such prominence, being in the forefront of in the pic. Normally nameless characters would be less importance in the cover pages.

I'm wondering who will be on next cover. Will we see ChouChou & Boodle (mayor) of Orange Town like last time or will they be skipped as it seems Rika (little girl that gave Zoro rice balls) has?
I mean, didn't we see her before the flashback that showed Zoro's childhood and therefore revealed Koshiro and those two guys that trained with Zoro?

If so and Rika has been skipped, then it's possible the one time characters that didn't play much role in SHs lives won't be seen. Characters like Rika, ChouChou, Boodle, Gaimon, Ippou?(That guy in Lougtown that gave the swords to Zoro).

Are only the home islands/close friends of the SHs being covered? That would mark it different than the first series of "From the Decks of the World" (FtDotW) where it showed people in ordered they appeared in the story. While Nami joined before Usopp, it was Usopp's home village that was seen before Nami's, thus in previous FtDotW we saw Kaya & the boys before Nojiko & Ganzo.

Skadi

This coverstory will probably show only the surrogate parents/close friends, unlike the previous which showed basically every place they visited/saved

I´m guessing next: kaya, the baratie, coco village (including johnny and yosaku), crocus and laboon, drum, alabasta, water 7, and maybe fishman island

Katzztar

Hmmm if Oda goes with order of crewmate joining, then we'll see Coco Village before Syrup Village, so not clear if next week we'll see
A- Kaya & the boys (I really would love to see the villagers behind them freaking out because they didn't know Usopp became a bigtime pirate)
OR
B- Nojiko, Ganzo (hopefully Johnny & Yosaku )

Previously with the Baraite it was separated into 3 covers (including the ship with Sanji's face XD), , this time I think Patty & Carne will be in same cover with Zeff.

kdchronos

@Skadi:

This coverstory will probably show only the surrogate parents/close friends, unlike the previous which showed basically every place they visited/saved

I´m guessing next: kaya, the baratie, coco village (including johnny and yosaku), crocus and laboon, drum, alabasta, water 7, and maybe fishman island

I think we definitely we are going to see FI, and also we are going to see Rayleigh and Shakky, and of course we are going to see Kuja Tribe, in the first one we saw what the people that knew the SH are doing, now we are going to see mostly the sames that we saw afer Enies Lobby, that means, maybe Shanks and WB pirates

badwolf1234

i just wish to see foxy since oda forgot to include him in the last cover… he got so much love from toei but none from oda

Katzztar

@badwolf1234:

i just wish to see foxy since oda forgot to include him in the last cover… he got so much love from toei but none from oda

That's because Foxy is a one arc villain, nothing special about him.
By "oda forgot to include him in the last cover" do you mean last time he did "From the Deck of the World?"
Oda didn't 'forget him', he didn't do many of the villians. IMO Wapol was shown mainly because he's now a king and likely to show up at the Reverie. Mr.9 & Mis Saturday was shown for the gag of having a baby. Other villians; such as Baroque Works, Gedatsu, former CP9, ect weren't shown. I'd say Foxy is same boat as Gedatsu… not really important after the arc they showed up in is over.

badwolf1234

@Katzztar:

That's because Foxy is a one arc villain, nothing special about him.
By "oda forgot to include him in the last cover" do you mean last time he did "From the Deck of the World?"
Oda didn't 'forget him', he didn't do many of the villians. IMO Wapol was shown mainly because he's now a king and likely to show up at the Reverie. Mr.9 & Mis Saturday was shown for the gag of having a baby. Other villians; such as Baroque Works, Gedatsu, former CP9, ect weren't shown. I'd say Foxy is same boat as Gedatsu… not really important after the arc they showed up in is over.

i think it is "MS. MONDAY", well among the major villains of grand line foxy is the only one as far as i remember to never have a cover story based on him or we have no idea what he was up to after luffy defeated him, sadly oda seems to forget about him…

Bugs

You know given that the fact the cover story is focusing on the surrogate families of the Strawhats, I'm very curious about how Zeff is going to react to Sanji's wanted poster. I doubt he'll knows the cause for it, but Oda will show us his reaction before we learn the reasoning of Sanji's Alive Only Status.

SherlockHolmes

@Bugs:

You know given that the fact the cover story is focusing on the surrogate families of the Strawhats, I'm very curious about how Zeff is going to react to Sanji's wanted poster. I doubt he'll knows the cause for it, but Oda will show us his reaction before we learn the reasoning of Sanji's Alive Only Status.

They will probably just laugh at the funny face he's doing on it. Maybe sell some heart shaped glasses in his homage or something.