Oda is brilliantly paralleling Loki to One Piece's best antagonist

Modified Oct 26, 2024 23:30 GMT

Oda is brilliantly paralleling Loki to One Piece's best antagonist (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece Chapter 1130 revealed Loki's true form, towering over Luffy significantly, featuring a wilder, Doflamingo-like design as a motif. The chapter also disclosed Loki's past actions of killing the Giant King and his father to acquire a legendary devil fruit, which directly led to his crucifixion.

It is already known that arcs within Eiichiro Oda's story repeat themselves, with one of the most noticeable patterns being the Alabasta and Dressrosa arcs. Currently, it is not known which part the Elbaf arc will be derived from. However, with Loki as the antagonist, his demeanor and backstory appear similar to Doflamingo, the best villain in the series. This suggests that the entire arc might be directly inspired by Dressrosa.

Disclaimer- This article contains spoilers for the One Piece series.

One Piece: Loki's resemblance to Doflamingo goes beyond his mannerisms

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Doflamingo first debuted during the series' earliest episodes as part of the Seven Warlords. Although his story went unexplored for most of the series, it received much-needed depth during the Dressrosa arc, where his Celestial Dragon lineage was revealed.

Doflamingo's father was a Celestial Dragon who gave up his title and descended into society with his entire family. Unfortunately, Doflamingo killed his father due to a clash of ideologies and in hopes of regaining the status of a Celestial Dragon. Meanwhile, his brother Rosinante developed a completely opposite worldview. This later resulted in Rosinante silently opposing his brother by feeding the Ope Ope no Mi to Trafalgar D. Water Law.

Doflamingo as shown in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Loki's story, where he allegedly killed his father to acquire greater power while his brother Hajrudin developed an opposing worldview, is arguably one of the biggest hints toward Elbaf arc's narrative structure. Loki also shares many traits with Doflamingo. This includes both of their eyes being obscured, their rather wild and pompous appearance and mannerisms, and their overwhelming confidence despite being subjugated.

It is possible that Loki eliminated his father for reasons similar to Doflamingo. Although recent arcs have seen a spike in the power levels of the antagonists, none have managed to replace Doflamingo as the series' best villain. Given Loki's strength and demeanor, it is possible that he becomes the only character to match Doflamingo's impact on the story.

Final Thoughts

Doflamingo was last seen during the aftermath of the Dressrosa arc, where he was captured by the Navy and sent off to Impel Down. Given the significant amount of information Doflamingo possesses, along with his connections, it is almost guaranteed that he'll get involved in the final parts of the story in some form.

One Piece chapter 1131 will be released on November 10, 2024, and available for reading on Shueisha's MANGA Plus platform. But the anime is currently on a long break and will resume in April 2025.