Hey guys, this may sound almost impossible at first, but after connecting a few dots, it made some sense to me and i hope it makes sense to you too.
It was generally known that Oda (god) have a liking to reference his characters based on the real world characters (e.g.: Eminem, Popeye, etc) and i've already been pondering on which character would possibly match closest to Luffy. Although Oda has stated that Luffy is an original creation, I can't help but to notice his resemblence to no other than Loki Laufeyson Here's why:

1. Lame as it sounds, Laufeyson does sound similar to Luffy-san when being attemted to pronounce by a n00b english speaking Japanese though none of his crew actually calls him that. I realized this when Wiki-ing for One Piece where the pronounciation like that of 'R' and 'L' is often used to distinguish between the real characters and the ones in the world of OP (though Luffy and Laufey has often caused stumps in my train of thoughts in this matter):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_piece#Real-life_pirates

2. Loki, a prominent figure in both the Norse mythology and Marvel comics is born a retarded frost giant (one that doesn't look like a frost giant at all due to his human like figure). I might have to add that "Laufey" in this case, is the name of Loki's mother which had caused another (gender) stump. This may also explain his Gear 3 Gigant based attacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki_%28comics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki

3. I'm sure I do not have to go into the relations between Norse mythology, Vikings and Pirates right?

4. Loki is also known in the Norse mythology as the God of Mischief: I can't really think of anyone else in OP more mischievious than our beloved Monkey D Luffy himself.

My two cents ^_^

right now i'm thinking of more government conspiracy…
the triangle is guarding some devil fruit research in which brook is a defence mechanism.

• or -

he's just some dead gentleman bandit/pirate dude in a fro
for all we know, he has an existing ass-pwning bounty like the giants
and belongs to one of the emperor's crew but got left behind like the beastile-'fro-in-a-box dude

hope he joins the crew tho
he'll be the only crew member who agreed to join when first proposed as compared to the rest

oda is beyond godlike!!!

anyone else besides me noticed that the dude on page 017 besides marco/jozu is wearing the same hat and medallion as ace ?

which also makes me wonder, why is his tat so different from the rest of the other's

given the revelations in chapter 433 about the supposed scientist that has conducted various research on devil fruits, i think thats where the strawhats are heading next and thats where zoro's sword will be revived with a DF ability

hopefully….

i guess u're right
he was cornered by some old dude
who happens to be luffy's father
who happens to be a D
who happens to wanna be the next pirate king
who happens to be the protagonist in this whole story
wow
it all make sense now!
he IS overated!

-sniff-
i say we should all include a common emoticon in our messengers to mourn merry's passing…
heck, everyone did it for steve irwin, why not merry?

Hi-ken no ace!!!

remember the sea stone sword i was babbling about a few threads back ?
zoro could use that upgrade and he'd be even with luffy

Thanks igalsfy dude!
Great chapter
Can't stop laughing esspecially the chimney painting panel
Does anyone else noticed that kokoro will eventually kill chopper? XD

now, which moon do u suppose eneru is headed to ? XD

seriously, after reading (actually, glancing) this thread, i've come to believe that rafteru might be a gateway to one of the moons which may be where one piece is located

but thats not the only theory

i've also considered the possibility of an island within the grand line that has a direct link to one (or all) of the moons

there's also the possibility of the old kingdom (empire)'s citizen's having a mass exodus to the moons

how abt the possibility of devil fruits being originated from the moons?

but after careful thought, i've concluded that i've been thinking too much and has yet again gone off topic
sry sry

but i have a question though
archeologists are supposed to deal with historical matters right?
they're like the csi of history.
and astronomers are supposed to deal with blinking dots in the skies right?
do you suppose that the very presence of the globe and the moons in the archielogists's place is part of oda's foreshadowing to some of the theories i've stated above?
i mean, its okay for them to have maps and a globe, but why include the moons?