Hey all, first time poster. I was just wondering what you all would think of this as a finale to One Piece as a series. I know that Oda hasn't finished it but is well aware of how it's going to end. This is NOT a prediction. This is just a rough outline of what I personally think would be a great ending to the series.
ALSO, JUST TO LET YOU ALL KNOW, I'M RIGHT NOW IN THE SKYPIEA SAGA!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!! I'M UP TO CHAPTER 290 OF THE MANGA AND JUST READ ABOUT MONBRAN NORLAND'S TRUE PAST!!! SO PLEASE, IF ANY PART OF MY ENDING IDEA IS OUTDATED (LIKE IF A CERTAIN CHARACTER HAS DIED OR SOMETHING), DON'T SPOIL IT FOR ME!!!! JUST GO WITH IT!!! IN OTHER WORDS, DON'T SPOIL THE STORY FOR ME!!!!…......Ahem Thank you.
Also, really quick, this is just a general outline or concept, so don't go too much into little details. It's just the basic events of the "final" story arc.
Alright, so the Straw Hat Pirates arrive at Raftel, the final island of the Grand Line where One Piece is supposed to be. But the Marines are there too, guarding the island and they clearly will do anything to avoid letting Luffy find One Piece. They try to sail the Going Merry to the center of the island, where they think One Piece is, and after a series of events, they find themselves in a battle against the Marines. Red Haired Shanks and Whitebeard (with Ace), having formed an alliance, get involved. Although the reunion (between Luffy and Shanks) is fleeting, it allows the Staw Hats to sail into the center of the island. More Marines attack, and Dragon, the revolutionary from the Loguetown Arc, appears and defeats the Marines before leading the Straw Hats into a secret underground cavern.
That underground cavern turns out to be an entire ocean--All Blue (so Sanji achieves his dream of finding All Blue. Also, Nami's dream is achieved because she can now map the WHOLE world, including All Blue and Skypiea). Dragon explains that he is part of a secret race (cliche, I know) that lives underground. He fights the Marines to defend his people, as the Marines clearly want something located in All Blue. That something is the Sea Devil itself, which has the power to spawn Devil Fruits. There's a million reasons why we could make the Marines want this, but it's really besides the point right now so let's continue.
They find a Poneglyph containing the True History (achieving Robin's dream). During the Void Century, a cataclysmic event happened at Raftel occured which caused half of Dragon's people to become trapped underground and the other half to become trapped above, causing the ones above to eventually evolve into modern humans (sort of like the Great Rift Valley in Africa). The Marines have suppressed that part of history for whatever reason (perhaps they engaged in extremely questionable activities to get the Sea Devil, I don't know). In the time since, they have been searching for the entrance to All Blue but have been unable to find it.
However, that changes. Somehow, the Marines get in, led by Fleet Admiral Sengoku and I guess the Seven Warlords of the Sea (now with Blackbeard aka Marshal D. Teach as the newest member). Shanks and Whitebeard also get in. True to OP's formula, the Red Haired Pirates, Whitebeard Pirates, Dragon's people, and Marines all have super powerful captains with slightly-less-powerful top officers (like in every other arc). Also true to form, characters are running around back and forth and finding themselves in one-on-one battles against other powerful characters from opposing factions (again, true to OP's formula). Through their actions, the rest of the Staw Hats--except Luffy--acheive their dreams (ex. Usopp becomes a brave warrior of the sea, Chopper becomes a great doctor by healing many sick people, Zoro defeats Mihawk in a rematch and becomes the world's greatest swordsman). Ace defeats Teach, who reveals that he and Gol D. Roger are also related to Ace and Luffy. Either Luffy, Dragon, or Shanks defeats Sengoku.
Luffy alone makes his way to where One Piece is supposed to be. There he finds the Sea Devil, who is actually a man who grows Devil Fruits using his knowledge of ancient magic (or something less cliche. I know, I'm sorry). He announces that he is now the guardian of One Piece and will defend it from Luffy at all cost. The Sea Devil has the power of ALL Devil Fruits, and at first, Luffy is overwhelmed. The Sea Devil allows Luffy to have a glimpse of One Piece before he kills him, and brings him to a room with a gold statue of a beautiful woman, claiming the statue is One Piece. The battle resumes, with Luffy defeating the Sea Devil. Before dying, the Sea Devil decides to seal the exit out of the One Piece room and collapse the entire All Blue cavern, forcing Dragon's people, the Marines, and everyone else other than the Straw Hat Pirates and Ace and Shanks to evacuate (they instead go to rescue Luffy).
Luffy is trapped inside the One Piece room with only a few minutes before the cave collapses. He's just happy to have found One Piece and become King of the Pirates, if only for a few minutes. On the statue is a letter, which was written by none other than Gold Roger himself:
In the letter, Roger states that on his crew was not only Shanks (and Buggy), but also his wife who he loved very much (she was his First Mate.....meaning second in command, not woman he lost his virginity to). Together, they and their crew sailed across the Grand Line and to Raftel, where he befriended the people of All Blue. They introduced him to the Sea Devil. He befriended the Sea Devil and in return, the Sea Devil gave him what he considered the greatest Devil Fruit of all. A Devil Fruit that could give someone "wealth, fame, and power", that could not only give someone amazing fighting abilities but also allow them to literally CREATE untold wealth. That Devil Fruit was the Gold Gold Fruit which allowed the user to turn anything he touches into gold--PERMANENTLY. Hence the true reason for the name change from Gol D. Roger to Gold Roger. Unfortunately for Roger, he accidentally turned his wife into a gold statue--the gold statue in front of Luffy. The process was irreversible, and the only part of his wife that didn't turn to gold was an article of her clothing--her STRAW HAT!!! Considering it the last memento of his now-dead wife, Roger considered it to be his greatest treasure. He passed it to Shanks who then gave it to Luffy. In other words, the hat, not the statue, was One Piece, and what Luffy was searching for was right under his nose the whole time. Well, on top of his head, really.
Luffy breaks through the wall to see the Going Merry in the distance, coming to rescue him. Knowing that they will die before they reach him and having achieved his life-long dream of becoming King of the Pirates, he stretches his arm to the ship and throws his hat towards Shanks, returning it as promised and telling them all that he finally became King of the Pirates. He tells them to leave and, with a big smile on his face, dies as the cavern collapses on him. The Straw Hats escape to the surface just in time. They say goodbye to Shanks and Ace, both of whom go back to their respective crews (Shanks once again wearing the hat). Everyone wonders what exactly One Piece was, and mourn Luffy's death.
In the epilogue, the Straw Hats are moping around the Going Merry. With Luffy gone, they have to decide who the next captain is and make a new pirate flag (of course, "Captain Usopp" nominates himself and is bitch-slapped by Nami). They all come up with new flag designs, each one more ridiculous than the last. They decide that there is only one suitable design and sail away, clearly sticking with their old one. On the final page, the narrator says that everyone knows the legend about how the greatest pirate in the world died with a smile on his face. The King of the Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy.
So how's that for an ending? Yeah, I know that there are a good number of cliches, a number of plot points that weren't really cleared up, and that there must of been plot twists taking place after Skypiea that would make certain things in this ending impossible as it is, but I like the general concept of it (especially the idea of Luffy's hat being One Piece). Like I said, this is basically a general idea, not a detailed summary (and definitely not a prediction). So what does everyone think?
And like I said, please don't ruin the rest of the story for me. I'm up to Chapter 290 and I don't want to be told what happens next, so keep that in mind when replying.
