One Piece anime's hiatus news just all but confirmed how crucial the sun symbol is

On Sunday, October 13, 2024, One Piece officially announced a six-month-long hiatus for the anime adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s addictive pirate-themed story. The break will last until April 2025, giving Toei Animation some much-needed time to restore the natural gap between the anime and the manga.

Due to the slow pacing of the One Piece manga, the anime adaptation got too close to the original source material. The hiatus will therefore allow Toei Animation to adapt the conclusion of the Egghead Arc with the same movie-level visual quality as the first part, all without sacrificing the rhythm of the narration.

It's interesting to note that the artwork of the announcement shows a compass rose with the cardinal directions, inside which is a stylized sun with eight rays. This seemingly insignificant detail has caught the attention of many fans, as a sun with eight shapes around it is implied to be the symbol of One Piece’s mysterious Ancient Kingdom.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1130.

The Ancient Kingdom’s symbol was teased during One Piece’s latest ground-breaking announcement

An enigmatic symbolism that permeates the series

The sun symbol in the latest One Piece announcement (Image via Artur - Library of Ohara/X)

It’s hardly the first time that the One Piece franchise has featured a sun-shaped symbol. A similar sign was seen several times in the series:

In Arabasta, on the flag of the country.
In Skypiea, at the entrance of Heaven’s Gate, as well as tattooed on Wyper’s body.
In Fish-Man Island, tattooed on King Neptune’s body.
In Wano, on the Kozuki Family’s crest.
In Sorbet Kingdom, in the church of Bartholomew Kuma’s family.

The exact representation of the symbol may vary from case to case, but it is always a circle with eight shapes around it, resembling a stylized sun. The meaning of this mark has yet to be revealed, but there’s good reason to believe that it’s connected to the conflict between Joy Boy’s Ancient Kingdom and the oppressive World Government.

The sun on Luffy and Zoro's early Wano outfits (Image via Toei Animation)

Most likely, the center of the sun represents the Ancient Kingdom, while the eight shapes around it are its allied nations, such as Wano, Fish-Man Island, and so on. Another interesting interpretation considers the sun a callback to Joy Boy using the same powers as “Sun God” Nika, with the eight shapes representing Joy Boy’s companions.

This would be referenced by the strikingly similar sun-shaped symbols featured on the clothes that Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro wore in the first part of the Wano Arc. The only difference is that the sun on Luffy and Zoro’s clothes had ten rays, which may reference Luffy’s wish to have about ten members for his crew.

In open contrast to Joy Boy and Luffy’s sun-themed marks, the World Government’s symbol only has five circles. These five marks probably represent the Five Elders, the highest-ranked Celestial Dragons who carry out Imu-sama’s direct orders. Imu isn't referenced in the World Government's flag as the former's existence is kept a complete secret from the public.

The recurring sun symbol in One Piece (Image via Shueisha)

It's also pretty easy to see that all the places where the sun symbol has been seen are have one thing in common, which is their connection to the One Piece world’s mysterious past.

Arabasta is one of the twenty founding countries of the World Government, but the only one whose monarch refused to become a Celestial Dragon. It’s also the location of the Poneglyph that reveals the location of Pluton, one of the Three Ancient Weapons of mass destruction. Skypiea hosts the Poneglyph revealing the location of another Ancient Weapon, Poseidon.

Joy Boy, the first pirate to ever sail the seas as well as the person who challenged the founders of the World Government in the Great War, left an apology text to the people of Fish-Man Island. The same island was also once home to one of the four Road Poneglyphs, which, if combined, allows to locate Laugh Tale, the place where the One Piece treasure lies.

Wano, which was once known as the “Country of Gold”, is the site of another Road Poneglyph as well as the location of Pluton. Sorbet is the homeland of a clan of Buccaneers, people among which the legend of “Sun God” Nika is passed down from one generation to the next.

Between past, present, and future, the sun symbolizes Nika

Joy Boy against his enemies (Image via Shueisha)

The common thread that links all these places and their sun-shaped symbols is the conflict that led to the destruction of the Ancient Kingdom over 800 years before the present One Piece narration. The leaders of twenty nations joined forces to defeat this prosperous and technologically advanced nation.

After the war, the twenty monarchs became the Celestial Dragons whose descendants now rule the globe through the World Government. The conflict saw the defeat of Joy Boy, a man from the Ancient Kingdom. Joy Boy possessed the Human-Human Fruit Model: Nika, which enabled him to turn into “Sun God” Nika much like Luffy does today.

The “Sun God” title wasn’t for show, as Nika was revered as a hero who fought to liberate the oppressed, bringing them freedom, hope, and an overwhelming laugh. Said to be the second coming of Joy Boy, and possessing the same Nika-like powers as the latter, Luffy typically takes the side of the oppressed just like the legendary “Sun God.”

One Piece's Ancient Kingdom (Image via Toei Animation)

After obtaining the Gear 5 transformation, which gives him the same cartoonish, reality-shaping abilities as Nika, Monkey D. Luffy stands out as the hero who will bring a new dawn to the world, symbolically paraphrasing what the sun does. It can be no coincidence that Arabasta, Skypiea, Fish-Man Island, and Wano were all liberated by Luffy and his comrades.

Luffy was also acknowledged as Nika by the Buccaneer descendant Bartholomew Kuma and his adoptive daughter Jewelry Bonney. From past to present, a Nika-like hero is wielding the powers of the “Sun God” to bring freedom and happiness to the world. This explains the pervasive omnipresence of the stylized sun, which both hints at the past and foreshadows the future.

The countries bearing the symbol of the sun were probably on the side of Joy Boy and the Ancient Kingdom during the tremendous war that took place during the Void Century. Interestingly, the same countries are now on friendly terms with Luffy, the second coming of Joy Boy, and the current depositary of Nika’s powers.

Luffy has the powers of Nika now (Image via Toei Animation)

The sun symbol depicted during the announcement of the anime’s forthcoming hiatus is the umpteenth representation of a similar mark in any One Piece-related content. It may be a stretch, but it’s not absurd to think of it as an Easter Egg, inserted to indirectly emphasize what appears to be an increasingly compelling piece of evidence.

With the Egghead Arc, the series has entered its final saga. Thus, it only makes sense for the franchise to multiply its references to the secrets that will soon be revealed in the story's climax.