One Piece chapter 1074: Dr. Vegapunk's Stella body most likely kidnapped by a certain stowaway

FOne Piece chapter 1074 was unofficially released on Thursday, February 9, 2023, bringing with it all but the official confirmation of Dr. Vegapunk’s Stella body which is missing. A brief flashback involving Kuma, the incredibly thrilling reappearance of Vivi Nefertari, and a traitor among the Vegapunk satellites were almost certainly confirmed in the chapter.

While it makes sense that fans are paying close attention to the last few developments from One Piece chapter 1074, the disappearance of Dr. Vegapunk's main Stella body is not something to take lightly. With Admiral Kizaru on the way to Egghead Island, the Straw Hats and Vegapunk Satellites are on the clock to find the Stella body and leave before Kizaru’s arrival.

Although the Straw Hats seem confused about the Stella body's whereabouts, many fans have already identified the alleged kidnapper. Follow along as this article fully breaks down who has kidnapped the main Stella body of Dr. Vegapunk in One Piece chapter 1074.

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One Piece chapter 1074’s missing Stella body plotline likely to carry the moral of “no good deed goes unpunished”

The Stella body kidnapper, explained

While most fans may have already forgotten, the Straw Hats weren’t the only ones who arrived at Egghead Island at the arc’s beginning, long before One Piece chapter 1074. Although their ship was the only one seen arriving on the island at the time, there was undoubtedly another passenger on board who was not affiliated with them.

None other than Wet-Haired Caribou is currently somewhere on Egghead Island, with fans unfortunately unaware of his precise whereabouts or what he's up to. The Straw Hat stowaway initially joined the crew in Wano before Zoro told him to scram when he exited his barrel on Egghead Island.

Upon being told this by Zoro, Caribou angrily stormed off to an unknown destination. Considering the lack of knowledge of his current whereabouts and actions, it appears possible that he is the one who kidnapped Dr. Vegapunk's main Stella body. There are also additional context clues in One Piece chapter 1074 that support such a theory.

Caribou’s Devil Fruit is the Logia-type Swamp-Swamp Fruit, which allows him to create, control, and transform his body into a “swamp.” His transformed body is characteristically like mud or quicksand, able to store a seemingly infinite number of items. This is supported further by his description of it as a "bottomless swamp," which confirms this aspect of the Fruit's powers.

Additionally, it has been demonstrated that Caribou can easily capture and keep people in his swamp. As seen in the Fishman Island arc, the mermaids he absorbed began sinking instantly as soon as he released his swamp. The more they struggled to get out of Caribou's swamp, the deeper and faster they submerged.

One of the context clues in One Piece chapter 1074 that supports the idea that Caribou kidnapped the Stella body is Shaka’s claim that the monitors provide visuals of all of Egghead. However, Shaka's claim is likely a red herring meant to make readers believe that there's no way Dr. Vegapunk could have been kidnapped. Fans have seen how subtly and quickly Caribou can activate his swamp and pull people in, especially when his victims are struggling.

Thus, it’s more than possible for Caribou to have quickly absorbed a struggling Dr. Vegapunk into his swamp without Shaka seeing him in time. While Shaka has been paying very close attention to the monitors since the start of the arc, there have been times when he’s looked away. This could’ve created a serendipitous window of opportunity for Caribou.

There’s also the fact that in One Piece chapter 1074, Shaka emphasizes that the Seraphim attack seems to have disabled some of the security camera Den Den Mushis. This would provide Caribou with not only a window of opportunity, but essentially a free reign to stalk Dr. Vegapunk until he was in an area with a dysfunctional Den Den Mushi.

As is Oda's writing style, such a development would play off the context clues previously provided to the audience and also offer a more understandable explanation. Thus, it’s plausible that none other than Wet-Haired Caribou is the one who kidnapped Dr. Vegapunk’s main Stella body.

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