Symbols in One Piece, Can you find the meaning?

juan73908

Hello every1!! I just joined today and I wanted to create a thread to understand what is the meaning of some symbols in One Piece.
This will take long so relax =D

Let's start from the begining, in the beginning of the series, the only symbols that appeared in One Piece were skulls and anchors and one of the first symbol that i think that can have a meaning are the snakes/dragons in Gin's clothes

here is a pic where you can see the one at the back, with crossbones

Chapter 44

The first strange thing about this symbol is that in the previous chapter there is a kind of sailor with the same symbol

Chapter 43 (middle right pannel)

Seeing that symbol there made me think that maybe someday an special meaning for that symbol would be revealed.
Reading the whole series again i found it in another place again:

Chapter 1 (middle left pannel)

Chapter 41 (pirate on the top)

Two of the Shanks members have this symbol too, and finally in a recent chapter…

Chapter 520 (Franky's Back)

This are my possible theories about this symbol:
1: It's a random pirate symbol, like the skull or the anchor
2: It's related with a very important pirate to ve released in the future or already dead
3: It's a cloth dessing like the star of camie

Point 3 take us to camie's star, the one with the scar and the crimin below

Chapter 195

Since it was revealed that Camie is a cloth dessigner it explains why the symbol appears in the next image

Chapter 502 (Califa T-shirt)

At the beginning of volume 21 there's a drawing of Luffy with a float ( I don't know if that's the word) with the same symbol, and in the episode 383 of the anime the symbols appears again.

Possible theories about this symbol:
In a future arc in the mermaid island we will assist to a fashion designer war, and the symbol of Kumadori's T´Shirt can belong to another designer.

BUT HERE COMES THE BEST SYMBOL OF ALL!!

Let's talk about Bellamy/DoFlamingo/Law symbol

Here is the image of Bellamy

Chapther 229

Here's doflamingo's

Chapter 303

It reappears in the Auction House in Shabondy Islands (witch is of Doflamingo)

Chapter 501

Here is Law

Chapter 498

If you compare Doflamingo's and Law's marks you will notice that Law's haven't got the stripe. What does it means? I found an incredible thing in the next image, maybe u can't notice it very well because of the quality, but here it goes:

Chapter 257

On the top left of the image, you can see that symbol reverted! the smiley face! and it hasn't got the stripe

My theories:
Some time ago the pirates divided in the ones who believe in the dreams, and the other who believed in the new era, anyway it doesn't explains why i is in a kind of medical instrument, or why there are many variants of the symbol.
One important this is that this would mean that LaW is not of Doflamingo's Crew, like Bellamy, and it is part of the other band.

I think this is all of it. Took me so long to write all this I hope you enjoy reading it

Please, coment about what you think these symbols are, I can't wait to read them.

Zigee

nice findings, too much time on ur hands. i think the most intresting was that dragon claw symbol

Moria

The dragon thing is sort of cool, but I don't think it means anything.

The Doflamingo/WB/Law Smiley face I think just represents the New World.

The star thing is just a clothing design. Nothing else.

m00n

Yes we can assume the smiley stands for era of dreams and the crossed smiley for the new era Doflamingo wants. Whitebeard going with the old era of dreams is nice to know but certainly no surprising. That there is this dragon thing. The dragon is without any explanation thus far. Hard to believe something drawn that often should be meaningless. Most obvious thing would be a connection to Dragon. Than again the situations it was shown in where really far apart and I can see no other connection than the name. Maybe its something Japanese… But I've got no clue about Japan

CCC

coughI mentioned WB's IV's smiley in a discussion topic a while back, and I don't think I was the firstcough

But yeah. That is curious. Maybe we'll hear more about WB's past in the upcoming war, and perhaps the explanation of that smiley will be revealed.

I agree with your "theory" about the smiley representing those who believe in dreams and the old ways though. That much is obvious.

Blackeye

Well, that dragon tattoo is probably a Japanese dragon tattoo… it represent god luck, freedom and being fearless.

Dreavyn

I don't know what the dragon and bones could be, but the smiley is a Jolly Roger(Pirate flag) I believe.

Here's a link to the wiki http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Jolly_Roger#Smilies

But the Wiki could be wrong.

Ubiq

Law's version might indicate a desire to expand Piracy.

At any rate, the smiling skull is probably Roger's symbol. Jolly Roger and all that.

Monkey-Chan

Or Whitebeards IV could have no meaning further than being connected to Law, but i think the whole golden age or new era thing is also a good explanation.

juan73908

Thx to al who replied, it was nice to hear your ideas

I don't think that that dragon has any relation with Dragon, in One Piece world it has more than 10 years and Dragon became a famous revolutionary 6 years ago.

I also though about smiley face to be Roger mark, but it doesn't explains why it is in whitebeard's ship, his very rival.

I didn't read the wikia, but I should have imagided that some1 before me saw the smiley at whitebeard support equipment, expecialy fansubers.

What I didn't think of is that the symbol is in Ace hat too, I think that it was because it's eyes are not circles (and it's the sad face too)

But talking about Ace made me remember another thing.
You see that the cordon of the hat has a skull very similar to the one over Hanckock's Boa

That can only mean that Dragon's mother, Luffy and Ace grandmother and Garp's wife was no other than the old fliying amazon that took care of the gorgon sister because she was away from her island for love

Or maybe not, and this was a dumb prediction because she actually loved Roger… OMG i did a dumb prediction again

By the way, does anybody knows why Whitebeard's symbol changed without reason?

Thx and cya

valdava

that dragon tattoo is Monkey D. Dragon's mark?
They are member of his army, or something..

Zik

The snake/dragon wrapped around the skull insignia is cool. May just be for fashion or that could be a sign of undercover agents in select pirate crews doing work for some secret organization.

I'd like to see Gin show up and that be his crew's pirate symbol…..

MEAT77

i think the wb's IV is a product sold by law since he was called the "dark doctor" he can be a doctor selling underground black market style medicines and under the table surgeries , and the smiley is something like it's brand signature or figure. About the dragon symbol, uhmmm maybe it is just a fashion trend to pirates but it would be cool to see gin working for moneky d. dragon or just like what zik said another pirate crew.

SillyDragons

@MEAT77:

Law is not really a doctor.
The doctor/surgeon title was just given to him to identify him of sorts because it corresponds to his devil fruit ability.

Zik

@SillyDragons:

Does it really?

I wouldn't be surprised if he was a surgeon….....

juan73908

I also think that they call him the "Dark doctor" because of his DF powers

Even if he is a doctor and that's his symbol, then why Doflamingo has the antismiley? Because he hates dark market medicine?

Blackeye

I think that the smilies are symbols for "the old age pirates" and the values that they had. Doflamingo pretty much only seems to care about money and fame (power?), while for example Gol D Roger cared more for Adventure and his Nakama… or something like that. It probably have something to do about Roger smiling as he was executed to. The smiley became a symbol for Roger and may indicate that you want to be the pirateking just as him.

bugiipoppu

That's a VERY NEAT connection between Bellamy and Doflamingo. Though the medicine and Law ARE different from these (and from each other), I think there is definitely a connection between the Don and Bellamy.

I'd like to see how that plays out.

SunWuKong

Doflamingo stated that the smilie is a coming trend…so i think it's just another kind of jolly roger which was invented by pirates of the north blue...cause trafalgar law is from north blue and we don't know about doflamingo yet.

Also for the t-shirt...it's a popular theme in mermaid island (Camie said this).

And the dragon i think has nothing to mean...imo it's just a gag of oda

Blackeye

@bugiipoppu:

Ofcourse there is a connection between Bellamy and Doflamingo, Bellamy used to be a part of Doflamingos crew before he became a Shichibukai.

Zell_D_Monkey

Very nice observations!

But I'd add one thing. IV bottles would be stored upright and installed upside down- the label is right side up and then it is Law's smiley. Maybe he really is a doctor…

Refii

Great stuff juan,don't listen to people saying you have too much time on your hands, these kind of gestures are always appreciated and welcome.

I tend to like the idea that symbols in One Piece are the most simple and 'right in front of your face' in terms of explanations. So I will agree with the brilliant idea that the dragon tattoo is in fact Dragon the revolutionary's mark, and that the smiley's have to do with Gol. D Roger's insignia, the Don Flamingo one's being related to his downfall/antithesis of his spirit. Which makes whoever inspired Don Flamingo to be that much more interesting.. like an evil Shanks!

juan73908

Thx to all who replied again guys.

I still think that Dragon mark will be related with the revolution or an anti gov. mark, instead one related with his name, anyway, there's the chance that the revolutionry army, existed before Dragon took the lead and made it a world power.

BTW I just found today another T-Shirt with Camie's star

Chapter 221

PD: Refii, it's quite true that I've got lot of time on my hands, time I should spend studying, but… :silly:

Blackeye

Again, that Dragon tattoo is a pretty common japanese tattoo that stands for luck, freedom and strenght. When it comes to the revolutionary army I think that it's more likely that those symbols that Dragon.D.Monkey have tattooed in his face is their symbol.

juan73908

@Blackeye:

That's a good idea indeed, but I don't think that the revolutionary army's symbol will be a square with another square inside (don't know how to esplain it xD), but it can always be a variant of it, or something totally diferent, like to symbol of Impel Down.

Gorlom

@Blackeye:

To me it seemed he was part of DoFlamingos crew WHILE Doflamingo was a schichibukai. Maybe not the crew on Doflamingos personal ship, but a subdivision or soemthing. He at least still took orders from Doflamingo.
@Zell_D_Monkey:

No they are still not the same smilies. The nose is missing on the IV and the teeth lines are significantly different.
Edit: How could I forget the BIGGEST difference: the 6 lines outside of Laws smily is completly missing on the IV.

There's a lot of logistics problems with the IVs belonging to Law. Afaik Laws nickname was "surgeon" rather then doctor, and surgeons =/= apothecaries. (Yes I prefere Stephens translations)
@stephens:

I really doubt the IV comes from him. Even from a story telling point of view it wouldn't make any sense. Trying to see a connection there is just stretching it and trying to tie everything together making the OP world smaller then it is.

To the original poster: Nice observations. much apriciated that you took your time to do all of this

juan73908

@Gorlom:

Thx m8!

I agree with you, I also think that that Law isn't a doctor.

I think that in One Piece, when Oda give small hints to something it's usually something that hasn't appeared yet, not anything old or used.
Two examples that comes to my mind are Duval (every1 thought that he was an old villain) and Boa Hacock (many people still think that he is Luffy's mother ¬¬)