Raftel's Seal, the Void Century, and the Will of D

[Zp1]

Of all the different running stories in One Piece, there are two storylines that hold utmost importance – Getting to Raftel (Pirate King), and the Void Century/Forgotten Kingdom. Why? Because Raftel is sealed off, and it relates directly to the Void Century.

Now, the above was a bit of speculation, but it's educated speculation. Consider for a moment what we've observed in the storyline so far -

Whitebeard wants to be Pirate King (as noted by Ace's words), and hasn't been able to achieve it in all this time.

Shanks and others were in Roger's crew and none of them have been able to get back to Raftel in the time after Roger.

These points of information lend themselves to one critical conclusion - There is a power or force that has been sealing Raftel away, and only Roger was able to figure out how to bypass it.

I'd like you to consider what we know about Roger now. In addition to being a powerful pirate, he had two other key attributes that likely had a direct impact on him being able to break Raftel's seal.

Roger actively pursued knowledge of the Void Century.

Roger was a conduit for the Will of D. (Gol D. Roger)

In essence, these are the two attributes Roger had that seperates him from other strong pirates capable of sailing the entire new world. So all of that being said, what am I presenting to you in this thread?

Just this hypothesis -
Raftel is currently sealed, and the power of which is such that no one is able to break it. The key to entering Raftel rests with the Void Century/Forgotten Kingdom, and those who carry the Will of D.

Hard to speculate much further than that, but it does seem like a direction that Oda may take to tie together some of the different plot lines he's been introducing (as well as filling certain plot holes)

[Malintex_Terek]

My original idea for why Raftel is inaccessible was that the entrance is underwater. If we've got a case like Aqua Laguna that occurs near Reverse Mountain, and presuming Raftel is floating in All Blue which is in Reverse Mountain, the rising ocean could prevent pirates from ever even accessing the location.

However, the ship coating affair has made this moot, so now I think the Four Emperors are there to prevent people from getting to Raftel. If a new Pirate King were crowned, wouldn't that mean the end of the Great Age of Piracy? What more would there be to look for without the legendary treasure known as One Piece?

[Xrono]

this thread actually brings up a good point that i had not thought about before… shanks was on roger's crew and presumably was there when they made it to raftel... and yet he is now a yonkou, the ones who are trying to get to one piece. so why has he not gotten to raftel? he doesnt want to cheat? personally, i think one piece is the rio poneglyph, so that might have something to do about it.

[blue-san]

This post is deleted!

[Candide]

This post is deleted!

[blacky]

Are you actually allowed to post spoilers here? XD"""""

The design of the grandline still gives me the chills. Does it really begin AND end with the reverse mountain? Well, anything else wouldn't make sense as the one piece world is probably still a sphere just like other planets are. So if you get around the whole planet you'll necessarily arrive at the beginning D: Which was reverse mountain….

The idea of Raftel being underneath reverse mountain isn't exactly necessary, because if there's an entrance you could still just jump down from the back of reverse mountain and enter that way; without all the effort of a trip around the world...

I like the idea more that there's a large gap between raftel and the back of reverse mountain, filled with all kinds of unpassable stuff, so that you can't simply approach from the other side. But then again, how to get from Raftel to the reverse mountain again. And how to get up???

Not that it would make any difference ...

[madking]

@blacky:

Are you actually allowed to post spoilers here? XD"""""

The design of the grandline still gives me the chills. Does it really begin AND end with the reverse mountain? Well, anything else wouldn't make sense as the one piece world is probably still a sphere just like other planets are. So if you get around the whole planet you'll necessarily arrive at the beginning D: Which was reverse mountain….

The idea of Raftel being underneath reverse mountain isn't exactly necessary, because if there's an entrance you could still just jump down from the back of reverse mountain and enter that way; without all the effort of a trip around the world...

I like the idea more that there's a large gap between raftel and the back of reverse mountain, filled with all kinds of unpassable stuff, so that you can't simply approach from the other side. But then again, how to get from Raftel to the reverse mountain again. And how to get up???

Not that it would make any difference ...

That would make sense…except Lola said she sailed the Grand Line going the other way, so that wouldn't make sense.

I think it has somethign to do with the Log Pose, i.e. you can only get a log to raftel from a certain island, and that island is very hard to reach and requires you to sail around the world or sumn like that. idk.

[blue-san]

@Xrono:

this thread actually brings up a good point that i had not thought about before… shanks was on roger's crew and presumably was there when they made it to raftel... and yet he is now a yonkou, the ones who are trying to get to one piece. so why has he not gotten to raftel? he doesnt want to cheat? personally, i think one piece is the rio poneglyph, so that might have something to do about it.

! Actually the newest chapter tells us that Roger has disbanded the crew one year prior to him giving himself in and in that one year he had enough time to hid one piece in wherever location which would explain why his former crew knows nothing about its whereabouts or what OnePiece itself represents

Blue

[Supernova]

@Malintex_Terek:

My original idea for why Raftel is inaccessible was that the entrance is underwater. If we've got a case like Aqua Laguna that occurs near Reverse Mountain, and presuming Raftel is floating in All Blue which is in Reverse Mountain, the rising ocean could prevent pirates from ever even accessing the location.

However, the ship coating affair has made this moot, so now I think the Four Emperors are there to prevent people from getting to Raftel. If a new Pirate King were crowned, wouldn't that mean the end of the Great Age of Piracy? What more would there be to look for without the legendary treasure known as One Piece?

That can't be true about the 4 emporors guarding the the treasure.Whitebeard wants to be the pirate king and he is a Emporor.I think there is a powerful force guarding raftel that even Whitebeard can't beat.

[phyrros]

See, it bugged me since the Skypiea arc that the translation stated that the message Gol. D Roger left in the porneglyph was "Been here & followed the instructions" which would mean he made the inscription after he found One Piece.

But hey, i already burned my fingers twice over using a ruby translation and after all - its just a manga we are discussing here, no one knows if and to which degree Oda thought yet about the design of One Piece…

[dudeinthewater]

I know this might be off the hook, but would it be possible that Roger is Robin's father??? I mean he his pursuit of the Void Century and his ability to read Poneglyph lead me to think that he is Olvia's husband. SHouldnt he at least have some sort of a connection or at least came in contact with Ohara in order to have the ability to read?

[raido]

Well, Roger didn't definitely have to know how to read it himself. Maybe he had someone from Ohara on his crew.

I don't think getting to Raftel has much to do with the Void Century, though the will of D might be related. Don't know about the manga, but in the 2nd opening Roger talked something about inheriting the will. Though that talk didn't have much to do with Raftel or One Piece.

[Archtyrant]

Whoever say that Shanks was after One Piece anyway? I've only known all this time that Shanks is one of the emperors and that on occasion you can find him hanging around in the latter half of the Grand line, but i don't remember anyone ever mentioning that Shanks was seeking One Piece to become the Pirate King. If you're going to tell me "oh come on, it's so OBVIOUS that he is, after all who doesn't wanna be the PK huh?" then i'm telling you now that it is NOT obvious.

We can already gather from what the one of the 5 elder stars said ("Shanks is not the type to make rash moves by himself") that Shanks has a laid back character. His ultimate aim may not actually be to become Pirate King. I'm not saying that it definitely isn't, but well, we can't confirm anything unless it's been officially said. Maybe he's like Roger, someone who isn't in the pirate business just for the title, but for the thrill and fun of being one.

Anyway my point is that Shanks not seeking One Piece is a possible reason why it hasn't already been found by him, and not that he doesn't know how to get it.

[Power]

Well if as we have pretty much already decided, One Piece is more a source of information, weapon or something which gives you enlightenment of some sort and not a treasure per se, then maybe Shanks has no reason to go after it because he already knows what it is and it's story behind it.

I think finding One Piece is more of a challenge to satisfy your curiosity than anything else…

[Sanjislollypop]

If the one piece doesn't include wooden chests filled with gold we will see a pretty pissed nami at the end
(and a pissed sanjislollypop, because c'mon…it's a pirate story, there must be [also] gold). :p

As for the 'seal' of raftel, very good points.
I allways imagined a freaky twist at the end, like the straw hats have to follow certain instructions in order to reach raftel, and roger secretly sewed those into buggys hat (because the straw hat would've been too obvious here).
There could be more barriers even before raftel, like a very small island that all sides fight for in order to charge the logport there.

Generally there just has to be some kind of barrier before raftel, but the question is did roger sort of 'create' that seal or is it naturally and he just knew how to overcome it?

[Blackrose]

If there is a barrier around Raftel, then I have to agree that the secret to unlocking it lies within the Void Century and Will of D. However, I speculate that the people from the Forgotten Kingdom built it, not Roger. If he had built the barrier, then the mystery surrounding the Void Century and Will of D loses some of its meaning (if not all of it). I'm even willing to speculate that a large ruin of the Forgotten Kingdom is on Raftel, and by large I mean bigger than the ruins the SH have come across so far.

[pritesh]

If this is true, then this probably explains why the strawhats have an argeologist in the first place. I mean which pirate ship needs an argeologist? If the seal has something to do with understanding the void century, robin will be the one to break it.

Also notice that Roger was able to pursue about the void century, and ONLY the people from Ohara could read them - the only one [known] who survived Ohara is Robin - so maybe she is the key.

[Aru]

Okay. So we can actually think that Roger was at Little Garden and met Broggy and Dorry. As I remember correctly they were fighting for about 100 years and for the Log Pose to get another direction from the island you had to wait a year or something like that. I don't think that Roger waited so long - maybe he just got a log pose from one of the giants, like Straw Hats did? Ooookay, I do think that giants are the key to the Void Century becuse of the lenght of their life. Many of them may remember what was back then and the WG didn't do anything about them to shut their mouths.

PS: Oh, sorry, I forgot that he could've go a different way like the Supernovas.

[pritesh]

Giants were able to live for about 200 years~.
Void Century was about 600years ago~

Can be plausible, the information can be passed down through one family tree.

@Gorlom: These were rough estimates.
Lemme wikipedia it lmao.

[Gorlom]

@pritesh:

Giants were able to live for about 200 years~.
Void Century was about 600years ago~

Can be plausible, the information can be passed down through one family tree.

I thought it was 300 year lifespan and the void century was 800 years ago?

[Malintex_Terek]

Three times the human lifespan, which is probably 210 years. Most people probably don't live to 100, people like Kureha are the exception.

[Angel emfrbl]

Unless they passed on the tales, none of the giants will know about the void century. Even for them, its been about 3-5 generations for them.

[Gorlom]

malintex what makes you think 70 is the average lifespan in OP?

How old was Kureha? I thought she was a few decades past 100?

we have had a few others such as crocus and shakky (unless shakky was a mistranslation) that looks like they will live a bit past 70.

[NANLIT]

This post is deleted!

[Blackrose]

@Angel:

Unless they passed on the tales, none of the giants will know about the void century. Even for them, its been about 3-5 generations for them.

Well, Saul didn't seem to know anything, but this maybe due to no one asking him about it.

[Ivotas]

@Xrono:

this thread actually brings up a good point that i had not thought about before… shanks was on roger's crew and presumably was there when they made it to raftel... and yet he is now a yonkou, the ones who are trying to get to one piece. so why has he not gotten to raftel? he doesnt want to cheat? personally, i think one piece is the rio poneglyph, so that might have something to do about it.

Good question. Seeing it that Buggy also is far from having got his hands on One Piece I say, that it might be possible that it was only Roger's most trusted men who made it to Rafter respectively found One Piece. I mean it's not a brand new concept in pirate stories, that a deceased captain hid a treasure without having the entire crew know its location. Treasure Island popps into my mind. Long John Silver was part of Captain Flints crew, but he didn't know where the treasure was. Something along those lines could work here as well.

On a different note, I wonder if Robin will actually take the chance to ask Rayleigh a bit something about the Poneglyphs. To be more precise, to ask him how Roger could write in the ancient language. Would be cool if some Ohara connection would be made (Robin's father being part of the crew perhaps). Well even if Rayleigh doesn't know the answers it would be weird if Robin doesn't take the chance to ask.

[Malintex_Terek]

Just to chip in, Roger never mentioned One Piece or Raftel in his execution speech, those terms came from other places. Like Ivotas said in Sunny Pirates = Jinbei's crew topic, the Straw Hats have a tendency to believe misleading information at times which leads us into a plot twist later on. Usopp was the one who assumed One Piece is on Raftel based on Crocus' leading comment. Roger could have been referring to the adventure of a lifetime in Grand Line as his treasure and thus Shanks would know One Piece doesn't exist.

If it is true One Piece doesn't exist, the criteria for becoming the next Pirate King are vague and thus people would be attempting to imitate the Pirate King in order to satisfy it. Suffice to say, I think we'll learn a lot more about Roger lore in the Fishman Island and the New World.

@Gorlom:

malintex what makes you think 70 is the average lifespan in OP?

How old was Kureha? I thought she was a few decades past 100?

we have had a few others such as crocus and shakky (unless shakky was a mistranslation) that looks like they will live a bit past 70.

I think Shakky is a Mermaid, given her unusual appearence. With a little moderation and self control with alcohol she won't turn into a Kokoro.

As for why I think the average age in OP is 70, we don't see many old people in the story. They're usually young and the adults are middle aged at worst. When an old person appears we learn their ages in some manner (direct or indirect, like Shakky's comment) - the two older human folks we've seen are also doctors who would be able to take care of themselves. Non-humans don't look like they've aged much at all, like Dorry and Broggy.

[igetownd]

I find something unsettling.

1. If you find One Piece, how would that make you Pirate King?
2. If sailing to Raftel is so difficult, why?
3. What does it mean to be Pirate King?
4. Why would One Piece be on Raftel?
5. How can poneglyphs be connected to One Piece?
6. What is the Will of D, and how is it connected to everything?

My (joke) answers:
1. One Piece contains a magical crown that transforms you into a diety, and all will bow before you.
2. Raftel is surrounded by a forcefield only accessible by those with the blood of D. Therefore, only people with D. in their names can go there.
3. Pirate King means you own the world, and everybody is your bit… I mean subject.
4. One Piece must be on Raftel since it's the last place anyone would look. Raftel is uninhabited by sentient beings, and One Piece will be neatly tucked in a cave on a mountain in the center of the island.
5. Roger cast a barrier spell with the language on the Poneglyphs and sealed the treasure. He also cast a spell so that people that don't have D. in their names will be repelled away from it and become lost.
6. It is the hidden power of the ancient kings of the ancient civilization that once resided on Raftel 800 years ago. It was granted by the Council of Greater Gods to them as a blessing for dedication to their cause. It grants superpowers that are stored away in Devil Fruits, in addition to the control of the seas.

[Malintex_Terek]

Being Pirate King has two criteria -

1. Strongest pirate alive.
2. Owner of "The One Piece".

Thus, Whitebeard is the closest man to the Pirate King crown because he has already satisfied one of the two criteria. Once he gets the treasure he'd presumably be the undisputed new Pirate King.

[igetownd]

Actually, what a Pirate King is has been stated right at the beginning of the series: Wealth. Fame. Power. Gold Roger, the King of Pirates, the man who had everything.

So…... You have to be the strongest, most famous, and wealthiest person in the world. Whitebeard so far should be the Pirate King, if it weren't for Roger stashing half the world away some place inaccessible.

[Malintex_Terek]

Oh, that's right. I forgot about the fame part. True, that definitely has to be one of the criteria.

[Conan]

I want to add one piont that Zp1 forgot!

You need the right ship, if you want to get to raftel… like Gol D. Rogers is the Sunny made from the same wood... hmm... could be a reason...

[SeriusReader]

Hm i like to see whitebeards history… How he fight his way to world strongest pirate. Maybe before his end someday...