Joy Boy may have been One Piece’s antagonist all along, and Emeth’s apology teases it

Modified Aug 06, 2024 08:30 GMT

One Piece and the possible backstory of Joy Boy (Image via Toei Animation).

One Piece has had a lot of mysteries throughout the year and one of the most prominent is the backstory of Joy Boy and what his motivation was so many centuries ago. There have been a lot of theories throughout the years, especially in the recent Egghead arc, and a user on X named @spiritofjoyboy has suggested that he could have been the series' antagonist all along.

This is something that the user considers because of Emeth's apology, stating that he failed "to make him king", which has led some One Piece fans to speculate that he had the greater ambition to conquer. Of course, there are a lot of problems and issues with this theory, especially when it comes to the fact that author Eiichiro Oda doesn't usually go for morally grey villains in this story.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

A new One Piece theory suggests that Joy Boy could have been the series' antagonist

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The idea that Joy Boy is an antagonist is the direct result of Dr. Vegapunk's recorded speech in the current Egghead arc, stating that the battle he had against Imu and the families who formed the World Government didn't have clear good and bad morals. In that regard, the theory also adds the statement made by the Iron Giant, Emeth, who claims that he failed to make Joy Boy a king, thus highlighting a certain ambition to conquer.

While this would be a notorious plot twist and could amaze a lot of people, the truth of the matter is that this perspective wouldn't happen with author Eiichiro Oda's writing style. Oda is known for having clear-cut villains whose morals are not really debatable, which is something that needs to be taken into account in this regard.

Furthermore, there is a lot more evidence of Joy Boy being a good guy rather than a villain, especially considering that he has been connected with the idea of liberation and helping those in need. Therefore, it doesn't seem very likely that he is going to be a villain in the story.

The importance of Joy Boy in the story

Joy Boy is a very important character in the series (Image via Shueisha).

There is no denying that Joy Boy is one of the most important characters in One Piece and that has only been further emphasized by recent events and revelations of the Egghead arc. The character's sole connection to the main character, Luffy, because of the Sun God Nika fruit is enough to justify Joy Boy's importance, but there is a lot more to explore.

He is also connected with the likes of the War of the Void Century and his conflict with Imu and the royal families who formed the World Government. There are now questions of what happened in that conflict, what was Joy Boy's motivation, and how he ultimately lost in that conflict, which author Eiichiro Oda needs to address in the story.

Final thoughts

It doesn't seem very likely that Joy Boy is going to be an antagonist in One Piece by the way Eiichiro Oda tends to write his villains. Furthermore, most evidence in the manga seems to suggest that he was a benevolent figure in the story.

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Edited by Bharath S